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COMMEMORATION
BATTLE OF HARLEM PLAINS
J
ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
BY THE
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY
M DCCC LXXVI.
New-York Historical Society.
CELEBRATION OF THE BATTLE OF HARLEM PLAINS
One Hundredth Anniversary. Sept. i6, 1876.
The expenses of this Celebration were defrayed by the following gentlemen in subscriptions
of Twenty-five Dollars each.
Joseph W. Alsop,
John T. Agnew,
Benjamin G. Arnold,
James W. Beekman,
Erastus C. Benedict,
David Wolfe Bishop,
August Belmont,
Samuel L. M. Barlow,
John C. Barron,
William Cullen Bryant,
Clarkson Crolius,
Mathew Clarkson,
B. F. Carver,
Addison Carmack,
Frederic de Peyster,
J. Watts de Peyster,
Evert A. Duyckinck,
John A. Dix,
Henry Drisler,
Edward F. de Lancey,
William M. Evarts.
George Ehret,
Benjamin H. Field,
Courtland de P. Field,
John Fitch,
Moses H. Grinnell,
F. Frederic Gunther,
John W. Hamersley,
Wilson G. Hunt,
A. Hupfel Sons,
John Hunter,
Adrian Iselin,
George Jones,
John J. Jones,
William L. Jenkins,
William Jay,
John D. Jones,
Morris K. Jesup,
David Jones,
Robert Lenox Kennedy
A. Gracie King,
A. C. Kingsland,
Robert E. Livingston,
William Libbey,
James Lenox,
A. A. Low,
John McKesson,
George H. Moore,
James M. McLean,
Fordham Morris,
Richard E. Mount,
Henry A. Oakley,
Charles O' Conor,
Samuel Osgood,
Willard Parker,
Frederic Prime,
George T. Plume,
Royal Phelps,
William C. Prime,
S. Whitney Phoenix,
Robert Ray,
Charles Roome,
William Remsen,
Lewis M. Rutherfurd,
Jacob Ruppert,
Theodore Roosevelt,
Augustus Schell,
Charles W. Sanford,
James Struthers,
Benjamin B. Sherman,
, Rutherfurd Stuyvesant,
Robert L. Stuart,
John Austin Stevens,
Benjamin D. Silliman,
Henry F. Spaulding,
Philip Schuyler,
James H. Titus,
William R. Travers,
Charles L. Tiffany,
William M. Vermilye,
Washington R. Vermilye,
Jacob D. Vermilye,
E. W. Vanderhoof,
Stephen C. Williams,
John A. Weeks,
Henry R. Winthrop,
Andrew Warner,
William H. Wickham,
J. Butler Wright,
William H. Webb,
Frank Work,
M163222
THE BATTLE OF HARLEM PLAINS
O RAT I O N
BEFORE THE
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
September 16, 1876
BY
JOHN JAY
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY.
M DCCC LXXVI.
COMMEMORATIVE ORATION.
Mr. President, Fellow-Countrymen, Ladies and Gen-
tlemen :
Our Centennial year, fraught with cherished memories, has
brought us to the anniversary of the spirited engagements
which took place on the heights and plains around us an hun-
dred years ago, between some of the Continental troops under
the command of Washington, and a part of the British army
under Sir William Howe. The action for the American army
and the American cause had a great significance. Our troops
engaged in it represented all sections — Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, New York, and New England — indicating the
common ties that have bound us in a common destiny, and
recalling the generous thought of Patrick Henry, when he
said, " I am not a Virginian — I am an American."
It was the first success of the Americans in the New York
campaign, and it occurred at a moment when both officers
and men were discouraged by disaster and retreat, and mor-
tified and alarmed at an exhibition of panic the day before,
which had wounded their self-respect, and impaired their
courage and their hopes.
It developed the bravery and spirit of our newly levied
troops, and their ability, when fairly led, to meet in the open
field the flower of the English army and the trained veterans
of the Continent. It inspired with new ardor the Commander-
in-chief, his officers and men, and it thus became an important
link in that chain of events, military and civil, which, by the
wisdom of Washington and the help of God, established, after
a seven years' struggle, our Union and our Independence.
The New York Historical Society, which is faithfully prose-
cuting the work on which it entered seventy-two years ago,
under the presidency of Egbert Benson, whom some of us well
remember, of rescuing from forgetfulness and decay the fleet-
8 Commemorative Oration*
ing reminiscences of our historic times, has brought us to-day
to this pleasant spot where the fast advancing city has but
partially changed the natural features so bold and picturesque
which marked it a century ago ; on those Heights the army
of Washington was encamped, and here you look upon the
field of battle. The occasion is fitly graced by this brilliant
assemblage, including our distinguished and welcome guests,
and by. our gallant Seventh Regiment, of which New York
is justly proud — that school of soldiers which in our late war
furnished more than six hundred officers to the army and
navy of the United States.
When I ventured to accept the duty with which I have
been honored, of addressing you on this occasion, I recalled
the touching words of Lincoln at Gettysburg, when, alluding
to the brave men by whom that great battle had been won,
he said, " The world will little note nor long remember what
we say here ; but it can never forget what they did here." I
felt that the sacred memories invoked by the scene would
appeal to your imaginations and your hearts with an elo-
quence of their own, and that you would kindly accept some
thoughts suggested by the day and a simple narrative of the
battle.
Practical as may be the character, active as is the life of our
countrymen, theirs is not the frigid philosophy denounced by
the English moralist which might conduct one unmoved over
ground consecrated by wisdom, bravery, and virtue. If, as
Dr. Johnson observed, that man is little to be envied whose
patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon,
or whose piety would not burn brighter amid the ruins of
Iona : the American, could he be found, would be still less
to be envied, whose patriotism at this Centennial season would
not be refreshed on the battle-fields of the Revolution, where
our independence was won under the lead of Washington.
If Marathon and Iona inspire touching memories of a dead
past, our revolutionary scenes, whilst they also remind us
of ages that are gone, are linked with a living present, and
an impending and limitless future.
In America, too, each citizen shares the sovereignty of the
Commemorative Oration. g
people, to whose wisdom and virtue are committed from
generation to generation the character and destiny of the
Republic ; and this thought enhances the personal interest of
each in the past of the country whose great future we are
moulding and carving and determining to-day.
It has been said that those will not look forward to pos-
terity who do not look back to their ancestors. We are
accustomed as a nation to do the one and the other, and the
habit strengthens as we advance. No story was more fasci-
nating to our childhood than that of America — itsydiscovery
by Columbus, the adventurous navigators who followed in
his steps, its settlement by colonists from every part of
Europe with their varied languages, characteristics, and
traditions, bringing with them the promise and the power of
that magnificent age of European advancement, of which
there has recently been given us, with unrivalled skill, so
striking a picture.
We trace the rough progress of the colonists in their battles
with the wilderness, with the Indians, and with each other,
up to the heroic story of our Revolution, which still grows in
interest as we read it anew in the thoughtful and brilliant
page of Bancroft.
Our interest was attended by the thought that the Republic
which had grown from those long processions across the sea,
and nearly two centuries of preparation, was, as Burke
declared, a new power, which, in its relations to the rest of
the world, might be compared to a new planet with its dis-
turbing influences suddenly appearing in the solar system.
The prediction in other lands that the Republic might
prove rather an erratic comet that would vanish in space,
or a baneful meteor, whose brief splendor would expire
in darkness, was thought in Europe likely to be accomplished
by the recent convulsion that threatened to terminate our
national career. The result of that contest has crowned the
accomplishments of our first century with the conviction, that
neither foreign power nor internal strife can reach the life of
the Republic; but that it contains within itself moral elements
of stability and permanence which were utterly discredited
io Commemorative Oration.
by other nations, and were but partially appreciated among
ourselves.
In this view our Centennial commemoration becomes more
than a sentimental expression ; it marks the entering of the
Republic upon a new epoch, no longer as a doubtful experi-
ment, but as a fixed fact — a power of continental boundaries,
of limitless resources, of unmeasured energy, of schools and
churches, and universal freedom, more closely united than
ever before on a basis of equal rights and mutual interests,
and with no lingering element of sectional discord to again
disturb its harmony.
Other anticipations, where the wish was father to the
thought, were indulged in across the water by those who
hastened to announce our national dissolution, and to hail it
asa" blessing and a boon." They dreamed that the Ameri-
can Union was broken, that " the bubble of democracy was
burst," and that it would devolve on the European powers
whom we had dismissed from our territories to re-enter them
once more, to save the remnants from destruction. France
wrote, an officer of the old empire would retake the ter-
ritory of Orleans ; England might appropriate Oregon, the
State of Maine, and the harbor of Portland ; Mexico, under
foreign protection, would reclaim New Mexico, Texas, and
California ; while an Austrian prince from the throne of the
Montezumas would look upon the distribution of the effects
of the defunct Republic, and lend his imperial countenance to
the system of perpetual slavery that was expected to flourish
amid its ruins.
The heart of the nation may well beat high with joy and
thankfulness, as our Centennial sees the gathering of the na-
tions at Philadelphia, not to sing our requiem and divide
our heritage, but bringing their congratulations and their
treasures to lend magnificence to the birth-year of the re-
public.
Having dismissed to their homes her army of a million,
and retained for the protection of the Republic some 25,000
men, less than the garrison of an European capital, she cor-
dially greets in friendly rivalry her welcome guests in a way
Commemorative Oration. 1 1
to assure them that if " Westward the Star of Empire takes
its way," our Star of Empire is the harbinger of peace.
Our Centennial is teaching us the unity of history by the
most striking of lessons, as Egypt leads the throng, mother of
civilization, with her untold ages of hoar antiquity — the land
of the Pharaohs and the Pyramids ; of the Nile and of the
Sphinx, with scriptural memories of Abram and Sarah, of
Joseph and his brethren, when the great pyramid had been
standing some 2,000 years ; of the second Joseph, the mother
and the Child, recalling Memphis and Thebes, Rameses and
Cambyses, with dim thoughts of Tyre and Sidon and Baby-
lon, as shadowed forth by Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Egypt,
which in her remote origin was a sphinx to the ancient Greeks,
brings from the East with oriental courtesy her greeting and
her gifts. She salutes us as of old the statue of Memnon
greeted the rising sun ; and as we read the message written
on her pcrtals at Fairmount, " The oldest people sends her
morning greeting to the youngest nation," we feel that our
youthful Republic, child of the brightest centuries of Euro-
pean development, is akin to all the nations and heir to the
culture of all the ages.
There is one pleasant thought connected with the Centen-
nial, — pleasant in every aspect and in its significance to the
world at large, of which we are naturally reminded as we
recall the battle here fought between England and America,
■ — the thought that the Revolution which severed our political
connection with the British crown, has enlarged our relations
and confirmed our friendship with the British people.
Nothing could have so crowned our majestic celebration,
ordained by Congress and proclaimed by the President — the
nation commemorating its founders and the world assisting at
the fete — as the magnanimity, worthy of the Anglo-Saxon
race, and which America will not soon forget, with which
England deputed her accomplished and honored Envoy at
Washington to represent the British Empire at the ceremonies
in honor of the birth-year of the Republic.
Wars that are provoked by passion or ambition may
produce new storms of international hate, to desolate in turn
12 Commemorative Oration.
successive generations ; but with wars that result from # the
antagonism of principles and systems, after the lightning and
the crash may come the clear sky, while nature smiles with
freshened verdure, teaching us that in the Divine Economy
it is often the conflict of discordant powers that produces
the harmony of the universe.
Touching the dispute between England and her colonies,
which Englishmen and Americans can now discuss with calm
philosophy, there is one fact creditable alike to both parties
and essential to a correct appreciation of the position, which
has been curiously ignored, even in recent discussions of the
question on both sides the Atlantic. The impression still
obtains in various quarters, that for many years previous to
the Revolution a desire for independence had been growing
in the Colonies, and that when the struggle was entered upon
the American leaders aimed at a separation. Jefferson on the
contrary declared :
"It is well known that in July, 1775, a separation from
Great Britain and establishment of republican government
had never yet entered into any person's mind." The accur-
acy of that statement was in accord with the assurance given
by Franklin in August, 1774, to Lord Chatham, that he
" never had heard in any conversation from any person, drunk
or sober, the least expression of a wish for separation," and
it was distinctly confirmed by the testimony of John Adams,
who added, his sturdy patriotism giving significance to the re-
mark : " For my own part, there was not a moment during the
Revolution when I would not have given everything I possessed,
for a restoration to the state of things before the contest be-
gan, provided we could have had sufficient security for its
continuance." The character of the ties that attached the
Colonies to England was too little appreciated at the Court of
St. James ; and Lord Russell, in his Life of Charles James
Fox, remarked that " it was the peculiar infelicity of George
the III. and Lord North, that they turned to gall all those
feelings of filial piety which had so long filled the breasts of
Americans."
The principles on which our fathers resisted the powers
Commemorative Oratioii. 13
assumed by Great Britain, are still occasionally criticised in
that country, but it can never be forgotten that the State
papers developing their views commanded the approval, even
the homage of the great Lord Chatham.
With the impressive diction that marked his transcendent
oratory, he said in words that can bear to be repeated, but
not to be abridged :
" For myself, I must declare and avow that in all my read-
ing and observation, and it has been my favorite study — I
have read Thucydides, and have studied and admired the
master states of the world — for solidity of reasoning, force of
sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion under such a complication
of difficult circumstances, no nation or body of men can stand
in preference to the General Congress at' Philadelphia."
That Chatham, who as William Pitt had been the great
Commoner of England, the expounder of the popular features
of the British Constitution, the most powerful orator of
modern times, whose " character had astonished a corrupt
age," found the statesmanship of the Continental Congress
to surpass that of the master states of ancient and of modern
times, is a noteworthy incident, as we review after the lapse
of a century, the full development of that political capacity
whose early exhibition at Philadelphia called forth that gener-
ous tribute from the foremost statesman of Great Britain.
Turning a deaf ear to the advice and warnings of Chatham
and of Burke, who stood on the American question like
" guide-posts and land-marks in the state," the ministry
adhered to the principle of the act, which said — what an his-
toric lesson it teaches to-day — " It is expedient to raise a
revenue in America."
On the soundness of that proposition the ministry deliber-
ately staked the dignity of the Crown and the integrity of
the Kingdom.
Dr. Johnson, in his " Taxation no Tyranny," ignoring the
principles and the characteristics of the American Colonists, and
the fact that their ancestors in every country of Europe had
been accustomed to resist oppression, anticipated as the
result of the struggle, " English superiority and American
14 Commemorative Oration.
obedience," nor dreamed that he was assisting in the dismem-
berment of the British Empire and the erection of an
American Republic.
Never was a ministry trifling with the interests and honor
of a great nation more frankly and fearlessly warned, and the
speeches of Chatham on the American question show the
difference between the true statesman, maintaining the truth
with outspoken independence against an obstinate king, a
convenient ministry, and a subservient parliament ; and supple
courtiers who bend the knee where thrift may follow fawning,
and sustain with unquestioning acquiescence governmental
policies that assail the morality and the dignity of the nation.
" My Lords," said Chatham, and his words may be repeated
from age to age in every country, " this ruinous and igno-
minious situation, where we cannot act with success nor suffer
with honor, calls upon us to remonstrate in the strongest
language, to rescue the ear of majesty from the delusions
which surround it."
When, after the rejection of their second petition, Congress
resolved upon the necessity of separation, and declared the
inalienable rights which formed the basis of its action, the
great truths which it announced, if thought strange and novel
in Europe, had little of novelty in America. They were here
regarded not as something newly discovered, but old as the
creation, written in the Bible, uttered by others than
Christian philosophers from Aristotle to Locke, — truths which
had descended from their ancestors among the Hollanders, the
Walloons, the French Huguenots, the English, the Irish and
the Scotch, the Swedes, the Germans, and the Swiss, the
Bohemian Protestants, the Italian Waldenses, the Salzburg
exiles, the Moravian Brothers, and refugees from the Palati-
nate, Alsace, and Southern Germany.
They were rights that had been asserted and battled for in
England by those who believed in the enjoyment of personal
and religious freedom : which had animated the great charter
wrested from John : which had inspired the Petition of Right :
which had been reduced to practice in the English Revolution :
which were the proper heritage of the colonists from their
Commemorative Oration. 1 5
earnest, freedom-loving, stout-hearted sires : truths self-evi-
dent, " the unassuming commonplace of nature."
When at our centennial commemoration of the Declaration
of Independence at Philadelphia, ordained by Congress to be
held under the auspices of the Government, and assisted in
by the Powers invited by the President, with the illustrious
Emperor of Brazil and a royal prince of Sweden, presenting
a scene unique in its political significance and its historic
associations, our acting Vice-President, Mr. Ferry, remarking
that the regretful absence of the President had o&st upon
him the honor of presiding on that eventful occasion, said
that the heroic statesmen who had there chosen between
royal rule and popular sovereignty had been inspired, in their
declaration that all men are born free and equal, by the truth
uttered on Mars Hill that God hath made of one blood all
nations of men. The religious sentiment thus alluded to by
the Vice-President has been recognized by the most philo-
sophic writers in America, as having lain at the root of the
governmental theories as well as of the social characteristics
of the colonists. Burke, in the greatest of his speeches on
America — that on conciliation — referred to the stream of
foreigners which had flowed into the colonies as being for the
greatest part composed of dissenters from the establishments
of their respective countries; and soon after that speech, and
a week before Congress was driven from Philadelphia, that
body ordered an importation of twenty thousand Bibles for
its constituents, at the public expense.
An interesting example of the recognition of the divine
rights of people, by the government of Holland, the parent
state of this part of our country, and of whom we are
reminded by these Harlem plains, is found in the reply of the
States General to the request of Great Britain for troops to
assist in the subjugation of the rebellious Americans.
It was in December, 1775, that Derk VAN DER CAPPEL —
may his name be cherished — declared, in answer to the
British demand for troops, that "the Americans were worthy
of every man's esteem — a brave people, defending in a
manly and religious manner those rights which, as men, they
1 6 Commemorative Oration.
derive from God, and not from the Legislature of Great
Britain."
It was the fine thought of Bryant in his Ode to Freedom —
Thy birthright was not given by human hands ;
Thou wert twin-born with man.
But we may not linger on the civil questions involved in
our Declaration which have already been treated in our recent
centennial orations with so much of learning, eloquence, and
deep philosophy, by statesmen, jurists, diplomatists, and
divines.
The military question to which this battle scene recalls us
was, in fact, the question on which our success in the war
immediately depended ; for that success hung not alone on
the soundness of our political theories, but on our ability to
defeat the armies and fleets of Great Britain, then in the
height of her pride and the most powerful government in the
world.
We began the struggle with no certainty of any foreign aid,
and so unequal seemed the contest that Vergennes, the Min-
ister of Louis XVI., assured our envoys that it would not be
safe for France and America together to attempt to match
England, unless they were assisted by other powers. This
inequality must be remembered if we would appreciate aright
the importance of the battle fought on this spot an hundred
years ago. The Declaration of Independence but just
adopted, closing the door to conciliation and compromise,
had alienated our friends in England. France had not yet
become our ally. There had not yet come to us the gallant
and generous Lafayette, of whom Washington wrote: " Treat
him as though he were my own son." We had not yet wel-
comed to our camp and to our hearts Kosciusko, whose
soldierly fame lives alike in Europe and America ; nor Steu-
ben, who had learned the art of war under the great Frede-
rick ; nor De Kalb, who had served with the French and
who fell at Camden with eleven wounds ; nor Rochambeau,
with his brave command of six thousand men, who was made
Marshal of France for his services at Yorktown, and who
Commemorative Oration. 17
brought in his gallant train such men as D'Estaing, Du Por-
tail, De Choise, Deuxponts, Custine, De Noailles, Montmo-
renci, De Grasse, Lauzun, St. Simon, De Broglie, Berthier,
Segur, and Montesquieu.
The 1st of January, 1776, opened gloomily, with the defeat
at Quebec and the death of the brave Montgomery. In
March, the British had evacuated Boston. In April, Wash-
ington had arrived in New York. On the 2d of July, Con-
gress had resolved on separation, and on the 9th the New
York Convention at White Plains had given, as Sparks happily
said, the finishing stroke to the Declaration of Independence,
which that evening was read at the head of each brigade
of the army, and the same night the leaden statue of George
III. in the Bowling Green was broken up and run into bullets.
Presently arrived in the Hudson two British ships, and a
third with the Admiral's flag of Lord Howe. Soon the High-
landers, Hessians and other troops began to be landed at
Staten Island. The British force near New York amounted to
30,000 men. That of the Americans was less than 20,000,
imperfectly equipped and armed, composed in part of" hasty
levies of countrymen." The yeomen summoned from the
plough, and destitute of arms, were ordered to bring with
them a shovel, spade, or pickaxe, or a scythe straightened and
fastened to a pole.
On the 27th of August was fought the disastrous battle of
Long Island. Two nights afterwards, on the 29th, was
effected the masterly retreat of Washington from Brooklyn to
New York, one of the most signal achievements of the war,
and perhaps unsurpassed in military history, by which " 9,000
men with their munitions of war, were successfully withdrawn
from before a victorious enemy, encamped so near that every
stroke of spade and pickaxe from their trenches could be
heard."
On the 2d of September, Washington wrote to Congress
that the situation was truly distressing ; that the check on the
27th had filled the troops with apprehension and despair ; that
they were dismayed, intractable, and impatient to return ; and
that great numbers had gone off, " in some instances almost
1 8 Commemorative Oration.
by whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a
time."
A council of general officers had decided with regret that it
would be necessary to evacuate New York, which Washington
said had become the grand magazine of America. Put-
nam was stationed in the city with only 5,000 men, while
General Heath with 9,000 men was to guard the upper part
of the island and oppose any attempt of the enemy to land.
On the 13th of September three frigates and a British man-of-
war sailed up the East river towards Hell-gate, firing as they
passed. On Saturday, the 14th, Washington's baggage was
removed to his new headquarters at Kingsbridge. It was
now clear that the enemy were preparing to encompass our
army on the island, and their landing at Harlem or Morrisania
was apprehended. But the evening passed quietly, excepting
that six more ships had moved up the East River.
On the morning of Sunday, the 15th of September, three
British ships of war were sent up the North River with " a
most tremendous firing," as far as Bloomingdale, with the in-
tention, as appears from Sir William Howe's report, of draw-
ing the attention of the Americans in that direction. At 11
o'clock the real business of the day commenced by a cannon-
ade from three frigates and two forty-gun ships, which were
drawn up in line in the East River, upon the American
breastworks near Kip's Bay. Under cover of this fire was
landed the first division of the British army, consisting of the
Light Infantry, the British Reserve, the Hessian Grenadiers
and Chasseurs, under the command of Lt.-Gen. Sir Henry
Clinton, who had with him Lt.- General Cornwallis, Major-
General Vaughan, Brigadier-General Leslie, and Col. Donop.
"The fire of the shipping," wrote Sir Wm. Howe to Lord
Germaine, "being so well directed and so incessant, the
enemy could not remain in their works, and the descent was
made without the least opposition."
This statement is not without interest as tending to explain
the panic which seized the militia by whom the works were
manned, and who had already been disheartened by the de-
feat at Brooklyn, and perhaps also that of the two brigades
Commemorative Oration. 19
who had been sent to support them, and who fled at the ap-
pearance of some sixty or seventy of the British troops.
Washington, who had come galloping down at the first sound
of the cannonade, met them in their flight, and strove in vain
to rally them. He is said to have been passionately moved
by their cowardice, which he reported to Congress and de-
nounced by general order. Recovering his self-possession,
he despatched an order for the instant occupation of Harlem
Heights, and another for the immediate retreat of Putnam.
There is one incident connected with Putnam's/ retreat
which, although often related, cannot properly be omitted in
a centennial mention of that eventful day.
Sir Wm. Howe, in his letter of September 21st, to Lord
George Germaine, after describing the landing at Kip's Bay,
said : " The British immediately took post on the command-
ing height of Inclenberg ; " but Sir William omitted to advise
his Lordship of the disposition of his staff on their arrival at
that point, to which the American officers were accustomed to
attribute the safety of Gen. Putnam's command, the loss of
which at that stage of the war might have had a serious influ-
ence on the military situation.
On "the commanding height of Inclenberg," now known
more modestly as Murray Hill, resided Robert Murray whose
wife Mary Lindley Murray — all honor to her memory — in
the absence of her husband invited Sir William and his officers,
as they approached her residence, to stop for lunch. A halt
was ordered and the invitation accepted. The unaccustomed
heat and their morning's work seem to have prepared the
commander-in-chief and his officers, who were accompanied
by his Excellency Gov. Try on, to enjoy the proffered rest
and repast. In cheerful mood after their successful landing,
and refreshed with the generous wine, they bantered their
hostess with British bluntness on her rebel sympathies, and
Mrs. Murray responded with such graceful tact and pleasant
humor, that two hours or more were whiled away before
they had concluded their regale. During that precious time,
Putnam and his command, in their straggling and disorderly
retreat along the Bloomingdale road, had passed in safety
20 Commemorative Oration.
within a mile of the comfortable parlors where the illustrious
generals, who were to conquer America, quaffed with appre-
ciation the old Madeira, jested complacently at the discom-
fiture of the rebels, and unconsciously measured the military
prudence of the Royal staff with the patriotic wit of an Ameri-
can woman. One mile's march during that pleasant lunch
would have cut off Putnam's advance or cut it in two, and a
little later, when he had passed, the 42d Highlanders moved
towards Bloomingdale " to intercept the retreating Ameri-
cans."
Putnam's command, after a weary march, joined the army
in the evening on Harlem Heights, where Washington had
made his headquarters at the house of Colonel Roger Morris,
at that time an adherent of Royal cause, formerly his com-
panion in Braddock's campaign, and his successful competitor
for the hand of Mary Philipse. This house, overlooking the
Harlem River, and commanding an extensive and varied view,
is now known as the Jumel Place, and here in later years
resided for a time Col. Aaron Burr, after his marriage with
Madame, the widow Jumel. About a mile to the north was
the height of Mount Washington crowned with an earthwork
mounting thirty cannon. On the heights, at this period, com-
menced the intercourse of Washington with Alexander Ham-
ilton, a young captain of artillery, whose skill in the construc-
tion of some of the defences had attracted the attention of the
commander-in-chief, and whose splendid abilities as exhibited
in the work of the National Constitution and the restoration
of the national credit were soon to command the attention of
the world.
The headquarters of the British Commander General, Sir
William Howe, were at the house of Mr. Apthorpe, which
stands near the corner of Ninth avenue and Ninety-first street,
and is now known as Elm Park. The encampment of the
British extended from the East River, where General Howe's
right rested on Horen's Hook near Eighty-ninth street, to the
North River where his left was at Bloomingdale, the distance
being about two miles and both flanks being covered by his
Co in mentor ative ratio n. 21
ships. The encampment extended from the fourth to the
eighth mile-stone.
On the heights occupied by the Americans, between the
ninth and tenth mile-stones, southwest of the Roger Morris
House, our troops were preparing to form the lines afterwards
completed between the Hudson River on the west and the
Harlem river on the east, over a broken surface with breast-
works, entrenchments and abatis.
Here it was intended " to make a grand stand." Both
sides of the King's Bridge were carefully fortified^ making
this the strongest point. The division of the army lying near
the Roger Morris House extended southwardly to near the
Hollow Way running from Harlem Plain to the Hudson River
at the site of the present Manhattanville, a natural break be-
tween the Harlem and the Bloomingdale Heights. Between
the Point of Rocks (the southern extremity of the Harlem
Heights, now being cut away, the property of the Convent of
Sacred Heart), and McGowan's Pass at the northern extremity
of the Central Park, and lying on the eastward of Bloomingdale
Heights, intervened a low ground known as the Harlem Plain.
The Point of Rocks at One Hundred and Twenty-seventh street
was the advance post of the American army, and on the hill
slope below McGowan's Pass, at One Hundred and Ninth
street, a mile and a half distant was the advance post of the
British army. The picket lines of each army extended be-
yond these points into the plains and along the ridge which
overlooked them. As night closed around the two armies
on the opposing heights, a cold driving rain succeeded to
the sultry heat of the morning, and the contrast between the
thorough equipment of the British troops and the half-clad
unsheltered condition of the Americans, without tents or
blankets, might have extended perhaps to the temper of the
two armies. The events of the day had tended to confirm
the impression made by the battle of Long Island ; to increase
the belief of the British in their resistless superiority, and to
lower the confidence of the Americans in their officers and in
themselves.
In reporting to their respective governments upon the con-
22 Commemorative Oration.
duct of their troops at Kip's Bay on this memorable Sunday,
Sir William Howe gave praise for highly meritorious con-
duct to his officers and men, while Washington expressed to
Congress his great surprise and mortification at the dastardly
behavior of his troops, whose cowardice was said to have
wrung from him the exclamation, " Are these the men with
whom I am to defend America ? "
Whilst Washington in general orders denounced instant
death as the punishment of cowardice in the field, he devoted
himself to the task of raising the courage of the army. He
perfectly understood that dependence upon raw militia was
resting upon a broken staff. " Men," he wrote to the President
of Congress, " just dragged from the tender scenes of domes-
tic life, unaccustomed to the din of arms, totally unacquainted
with every kind of military skill (which is followed by want
of confidence in themselves when opposed to troops regularly
trained and appointed, superior in knowledge and superior
in arms), are timid and ready to fly from their own shadows."
He had formed the determination, for which his present strong
position afforded an excellent opportunity, " to habituate his
soldiers by a series of successful skirmishes to meet the
enemy in the field." With clear sagacity, as observed by
Marshall, he had persuaded himself that his detachments,
knowing that a strongly entrenched camp was immediately in
their rear, would soon display their native courage and speed-
ily regain the confidence they had lost.
On the morning of Monday the 16th of September, Wash-
ington concluded a letter to Congress on the affair at Kip's
Bay, with the remark, " I have sent out some reconnoitring
parties to gain intelligence, if possible, of the disposition of
the enemy." From the contemporaneous authority of an
officer engaged in the affair, it appears that a scouting party
of the Regiment of Rangers, a body of picked men under the
command of Lieut. Colonel Thomas Knowlton, set out
before day-break with instructions to ascertain the position
of the enemy's advanced guard. Passing over the ridge
which we have described as the Bloomingdale Heights, then
known as the Vanderwater Heights (they are so described in
Commemorative Oration. 23
Sir William Howe's despatch), they pushed through the woods
until, near the southern extremity of this ridge, they came at
day-break upon a large party of the British light infantry, who
rapidly advanced upon them. A sharp skirmish ensued,
until Knowlton, perceiving that with their superior numbers
they were turning his flank, ordered a retreat. His men fell
back in an orderly manner to the northernmost end of the
ridge, where close by our advance posts a second stand was
made. Meanwhile, the firing had attracted attention, and
soon after Washington's morning despatches were y sentto
Congress, rumors reached the headquarters of a movement
by the enemy, considerable bodies of whom were showing
themselves at the lower end of the plains.
Adjutant-General Joseph Reed, as he himself informs us,
was sent to the front to learn the truth, and went down to
the most advanced guard picketed on the plain below the
Point of Rocks. He here fell in with the party of Knowlton,
who had been driven from the hill, and while Reed was talk-
ing to the officer in command the enemy showed themselves
and opened fire at a distance of fifty yards. The Ameri-
cans behaved well, stood and returned the fire till overpowered
by numbers (ten to one is Reed's estimate), they retreated,
the enemy advancing with such rapidity that they were
in possession of the house in which Reed conversed with the
officer five minutes after he left it.
Reed encouraged by the behavior of the men started for
headquarters to make his report and ask for reinforcements.
Meanwhile Washington had mounted his horse and ridden
down to our advanced posts. Hardly had Reed reached him
when the light infantry showed themselves in view, and in
the most contemptuous manner sounded their bugles as is
usual after a fox chase. This insulting behavior brought a
blush to the cheeks of the officers, and caused their blood to
tingle with shame. It showed them the contempt in which
they were held by their adversaries and seemed to crown
their disgrace.
On reconnoitring the situation of the enemy, Washington
saw that there was an opportunity for a successful action in
24 Commemorative Oration.
which, under favorable conditions, the morale of the army
could be restored, and, to use his own words, he formed the
design of " cutting- off such of the enemy's troops as might
advance to the extremity of the woods." This wood was on
the northernmost spur of the Bloomingdale Heights, which
overlooked the hollow way and was divided from a similar
spur opposite at the Point of Rocks by a gully or ravine at
the foot of which lay a round meadow known in the topo-
graphy of the day as Matje (or Mutje) Davits Fly.
Washington learning that the body of the enemy who kept
themselves concealed was about three hundred, ordered three
companies of Colonel Weedon's regiment from Virginia,
under the command of Major Andrew Leitch, and Lieutenant-
Colonel Knowlton with his Rangers, to try and get in their
rear, while a disposition was made as if to attack them in front
and to draw their attention that way. Knowlton who was
familiar with the ground seems to have guided his party by
the left flank of the enemy through the woods of the western
slopes of the Bloomingdale Ridge in which he had fought in
the morning, in order to fall upon their rear. Leitch with
his Virginians, unacquainted with the field, was put under
the guidance of Adjutant-General Reed. It is worth while
here to notice that the Virginia troop, which was this day
under Leitch, had only arrived the day preceding, having
been ordered from the command of General Mercer in New
Jersey, and had joined the camp by way of Burdett's Ferry,
facing Fort Washington. Meanwhile at ten o'clock a de-
monstration or feint was made on the front which had the
effect intended by Washington. The British troops im-
mediately ran down the hill to the round meadow at its foot.
Here, in the words of General Clinton, who was in the action
during the greater part of the day, and whose report to the
New York Convention is the most detailed and intelligible
account of it, they were opposed with spirit and soon made
to retreat to a clear field about two hundred paces (eight
hundred feet distant), south-east of the fly or meadow, where
they lodged themselves behind a fence covered with bushes.
This cleared field we take to have been to the east and some-
Commemorative Oration. 25
what south of the point of the ridge facing the Point of Rocks.
A smart firing began but at too great a distance to do much
execution, when a couple of field pieces being brought to
bear upon the British, at the second discharge they again fell
back retreating up the eastern slope of the hill. At this mo-
ment Major Leitch and his command came upon the field, but
misled by the movements of the regiment in action, who seem
to have hailed them as they appeared on the plain, were
diverted from the path by which Reed intended to lead them
around the right flank of the British to their rear,vwhere he
hoped to make a junction with Knowlton's Rangers. Leitch's
command evidently came from the lines by the Kings Bridge
road and their course was to have been by an irregular road,
which leaving it crossed the plain, ran along the eastern slope
of the ridge and passed over it about 11 2th street, where the
line of trees now standing marks its course, connecting with
the Bloomingdale road at its intersection with the present
Eleventh avenue. Reed finding it impossible to check their
ardor accompanied them. They joined the regiment in
action ; the feint was now turned into an attack. In a few
minutes, in the words of Reed, our brave fellows mounted up
the rocks, attacked the enemy, and a brisk action ensued.
Major Leitch fell presently, after the close fighting began,
wounded with three balls. In a buckwheat field on the top
of the hill, which General Clinton describes as four hundred
paces — sixteen hundred feet distant — (and here we must
remark that there can be no doubt about the accuracy of
these distances, Clinton himself having surveyed the ground
a few years previously to settle the Harlem boundary), the
British troops met the 42d Highlanders, who, dispatched
at eleven o'clock, had moved up on a double trot without
stopping to draw breath, to the support of the Light In-
fantry, whose distance from their lines had caused general
alarm at Howe's headquarters.
The effect of the undue and unexpected precipitation on the
part of the American troops ordered to make the feint, was
to cause the attack to be made too soon, and rather in flank
than in the rear, thus thwarting the well-arranged plans of
26 Commemorative Oration.
Washington. The interference with his orders was pointedly
referred to in the General Orders of the next day, in the re-
mark that " the loss of the enemy yesterday would undoubt-
edly have been much greater if the orders of the Commander-
in-Chief had not in some instance been contradicted by some
inferior officers, who, however well they might mean, ought
not to presume to direct." At the same time, the Virgin-
ians of Leitch's command received the thanks of Washington
for their gallantry.
On receiving their reinforcements, the British made their
second stand. Here it is probable that Knowlton made his
appearance on the British left flank. In the buckwheat field
which is located to the eastward of the Bloomingdale Asylum
on the line of 118th street, a brisk action commenced, which
continued near two hours. In this fight, in which, in the
words of General Heath, there was good " markmanship on
both sides," Colonel Knowlton fell about noon. The officer
of the Rangers, whose account of the early morning skirmish
we have freely quoted, caught him in his arms, and sent him
off the field by two of his men, and he was taken to our lines
on the horse of Adjutant-General Reed, probably by the road
we have described, which in fact is the only road laid down
on the maps of the period, and the only path practicable for
a horse.
Knowlton behaved with the greatest courage, and accepted
his fate with brave composure. " He seemed," wrote one of
his officers, " as unconcerned as though nothing had hap-
pened to him." His last inquiry was as to the result of the
action. Notwithstanding the loss of their leaders, the men
persevered and continued the engagement under the lead of the
captains, until Washington, finding that they needed support,
advanced part of Colonel Griffiths' and Colonel Richardson's
Maryland regiments, with some detatchments from the eastern
regiments who were nearest the scene of action, who charged
the enemy with great intrepidity. Among these troops were
Captain Beatty of the Maryland line, Major Mantz with three
rifle companies of the same troops, Major Price with three of
the Independent companies of Maryland troops, and three
Commemorative Oration. 27
other companies of the Maryland Flying Cavalry, a battalion
of Virginians, and some southern troops. Thus reinforced,
the Americans pushed on with fresh vigor. Generals Putnam
and Greene, with Tilghman and other officers of Washington's
staff, joined in the engagement, and animated the soldiers by
their presence. Greene, in his account of the battle, speaks
of the noble behavior of Putnam and Adjutant-General Reed.
The British also received a considerable addition to their force,
which appears from the official report of Lord Howe to have
consisted of " the reserve with two field pieces, a battalion of
Hessian grenadiers, and a company of chasseurs," under the
command of Brigadier-General Leslie. Notwithstanding this
assistance they were driven from the buckwheat field into a
neighboring orchard. This orchard was a field north of
the line of n 6th street, where the remains of the old trees
were visible until about the year 1866, when the land was
cleared. An ineffectual attempt was made by the British
for a further stand, but they were again driven across a hol-
low and up a hill not far distant from their own encampment.
This hollow was undoubtedly the dip of land between the
Bloomingdale and McGowan's Heights, and the hill the slope
of the latter elevation.
Here the Americans having silenced the British fire in
great measure, Washington judged it prudent to order a
retreat, fearing that the enemy, as he afterwards learned was
really the case, were sending a large body to support their
party, which would have involved his drawing supports from
his strong position on the Harlem Heights, and have brought
on a general engagement, which he was determined to avoid.
The war, as he had written Congress, must be a "war of
posts," and he had no thought of jeoparding the cause by a
battle in the open field — at least, not till he had thoroughly
tried the temper of his troops. The Von Lansing battalion
was seen to draw near ; two other German battalions, under
Von Donop, occupied M'Gowan's Pass ; and from eight to
ten thousand men were under arms, hidden by the hill to
which the enemy were being driven. The American troops
obeyed the re-call ordered by Washington, although the
28 Commemorative Oration.
" pursuit of a flying enemy was so new a scene that it was
with difficulty our men could be brought to retreat, which
was, however, effected in very good order."
The loss on the side of the Americans, as reported by
General George Clinton, was seventeen dead and fifty-three
wounded. On the part of the British, according to the full
circumstantial report of Bauermeister, quoted by Mr. Ban-
croft, there were seventy dead and two hundred and ten
wounded.
The battle, as we have described it, was chiefly fought
upon the Bloomingdale Heights ; but as the main action
commenced on the plains near Manhattanville, it was called
by Mr. Lossing the battle of Harlem Plains, and that title
has been adopted in the subsequent narratives of Mr. Dawson
and other writers. Some manuscript accounts of the battle
not hitherto referred to have thrown light upon points which
seemed a little doubtful ; and in this connection I gratefully
acknowledge my obligations to Mr. Stevens, Mr. Moore, and
Mr. Kelby, of our New York Historical Society, for their
kind assistance.
The general and deep satisfaction at the events of the day
was dimmed by the sorrow for those who had fallen or who
were suffering from their wounds.
The movements of the British left it doubtful what they
might intend, and Washington's order for the night of the
16th indicated careful preparation to meet a possible attack
along the whole line of heights, commanding the hollow way
from the North River to the main road leading from New York
to Kingsbridge. The parole was Beale, and the counter-
sign, Maryland. Gen. Clinton was to form next the North
River, then Gen. Scott's brigade and Lieut. Col. Sayres, of
Col. Griffiths' regiment, with the three companies intended
for a re -enforcement in the morning.
Gen. Nixon's and Col. Sergeant's division, Col. Weedon
and Maj. Price's regiments, were ordered to retire to their quar-
ter and refresh themselves, but to hold themselves in readiness
to turn out at a minute's warning. Gen. McDougal was to
establish guards against his brigade upon the heights from
Commemorative Oration, 29
Morris's house to McDougall's camp, to furnish proper guards
to prevent surprise, not less than twenty men from each regi-
ment. Gen. Putnam was placed in command upon the right
flank for the night, and Gen, Spencer from McDougall's
brigade to Morris's house ; and should the enemy attempt to
pass during the night, Gen. Putnam was to apply to Gen,
Spencer for a re-enforcement.
The next day, by general order, Washington returned his
most hearty thanks to " the troops commanded yesterday by
Major Leitch, who first advanced upon the enemy^ and the
others who so resolutely supported them." He contrasted
their behavior with that of some troops the day before, as
showing what might be done when officers and men exert
themselves. Again he called upon them to act up to the
noble cause in which they were engaged, and to support the
honor and liberties of their country. In naming the officer
who was to take command of the party lately led by Col,
Knowlton, he declared that the gallant officer who had yes-
terday fallen while gloriously fighting would have done honor
to any country. The order concluded with a rebuke to the
inferior officers, whose ill-advised attention to unauthorized
orders had interfered with the orders of the Commander-in-
Chief and diminished their success.
The name of LEITCH was given by Washington for the
next day's parole — a grateful tribute to the wounded officer,
who lingered till the 1st of October, and for the countersign,
with similar significance, was given " Virginia."
Col. Knowlton — whose grandson we cordially welcome on
this occasion — was the favorite officer of Gen. Putnam. He
had distinguished himself, with Prescott, in fortifying Bun-
ker Hill and in holding the British at bay ; in Trumbull's
historic painting he stands almost alone, " the hero of the rail
fence," without coat or hat, grasping his bayonetless musket.
He became the trusted officer of Washington, and was de-
puted by the Commander-in-Chief to head a difficult night
expedition to Charlestown, which he managed with entire
success. He was buried by order of Washington within the
lines, and Leitch was presently buried by his side ; what fitter
30 Commemorative Oration.
time than this, our Centennial anniversary, could a grateful
people select for the erection of a monument to their
memory ?
The result of the engagement which, commencing as a skir-
mish of outposts, had assumed at its close such large dimen-
sions that from four to five thousand troops were estimated to be
engaged on either side, had signally accomplished the design
of Washington to recover the military ardor of his troops.
It was; as Irving remarks in his Life of Washington , "The
first gleam of success in the campaign." The importance
attributed to it by Washington appears from the accounts
w r ritten by him to the President of Congress ; to the Conven-
tion of New York ; to Gov. Henry, Gov. Trumbull, Gen.
Schuyler, and his brothers Lund and John Augustine. To
Gen. Schuyler he said, " Our men behaved with great
bravery, and being supported by fresh troops, beat the
enemy fairly from the field."
General Greene, who at a later day, wrote of this his first
close fight, "I fought hard at Harlem," said, on the 4th
October, in a detailed account of the action: " Had all the
Colonies good officers there is no danger of the Troops ;
never were troops that would stand in the field longer than
the American soldiery. If the officers were as good as the
men, and had only a few months to form the troops by dis-
cipline, America might bid defiance to the whole world."
Gen. George Clinton concluded his narrative of the battle
to the New York Convention, with the remark: "I con-
sider our success in this small affair at this time almost equal
to a victory. It has animated our troops, given them new
spirits, and erased every bad impression the retreat from
Long Island, etc., had left on their minds. They find they
are able with inferior numbers to drive the enemy — and
think of nothing now but conquest."
This success following immediately the unfortunate affair
of Kip's Bay — in which, as was remarked by Heath, the
officers at least knew that the city was to be abandoned, —
warranted the opinion which Greene, who soon became the
first military authority in America, expressed of those stay-
Commemorative Oration. 31
ing qualities of the American soldier, which in our day have
been recognized by high authorities in Great Britain.
The late distinguished Col. Charles Chesney, of the Royal
Engineers, in a review of the interesting History of our Civil
War by the Comte de Paris, referred to Malvern Hill as illus-
trating " the truth which the world is slowly realizing, that
the American soldier is most formidable when apparently
defeated, and least subject to panic when retreating before a
victorious enemy."
The bugle blast of the morning that had seemed to Reed to
liken the contest to a fox chase, had called forth a spirit and
a policy which resulted in a double lesson of confidence to the
Americans and of caution to the British. "They have ever
since," wrote George Clinton on the 21st of September, "been
exceedingly modest and quiet, not having even patrolling par-
ties beyond their lines." The British for a time showed no
desire to bring on the general engagement the American
officers had believed to be impending, and which Wash-
ington had been anxious to avoid on the policy recommended
by our friends in Europe, and which accorded with his own
conviction. So late as the 2d of October an American party
of four thousand men gathered in without molestation the
hay and corn in the Harlem Plains which each army had
been watching and claiming as its own.
The British order for the 17th, the day after the battle,
while expressing the highest opinion of the bravery of the
troops, who it remarked had yesterday beaten back a very
superior body of the rebels, and returning thanks to the
battalion, and the officers and men of the artillery that came
to their support, expressed the disapproval by the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the light company in pursuing the rebels
without discretion, without support.
No similar imprudence was committed on the part of the
light infantry during the period of nearly four weeks that the
two armies remained encamped at Harlem. A brief mention
of the engagement is found in the Historic Record of the
Forty-second Highlanders, with the remark, "This being
32 Commemorative Oration.
only an affair of outposts, no detailed account of it was given,
but it was a well contested action."
Stedman's History of the American War, says, that " the
action was carried on by reinforcements on both sides and
became very warm." It assumed that the Americans pos-
sessed a great advantage from the circumstance of engaging
within half a mile of their entrenched camp, where they could
be supplied with fresh troops as often as the occasion required,
and that victory nevertheless was on the part of the English,
with a loss to the rebels of three hundred. For the true
opinion of the affair entertained by Sir Henry Clinton, we are
indebted to his own copy of Stedman's History, in which
he had written on the margin of the passage pronouncing it a
victory, "The ungovernable impetuosity of the light troops
drew us into this scrape/'
In recalling after the lapse of a century the battle of Har-
lem Plains, and remembering the subsequent events of the
war, we see how completely those events confirm his judg-
ment of the importance of that day in restoring to the
American army confidence and self-respect, in compelling the
soldierly regard of their brave opponents, and in inducing on
the part of the British commander that caution and dilatory
policy which accorded with our plans and contributed to our
success. Excellent as was the material of the English army,
Washington's hasty levies were composed of men in no whit
inferior, save in training, discipline, and equipment, for which
time and opportunity were essential.
It is true that the army of Sir William Howe, which was
pronounced by Lord Chatham " the best appointed army
that ever took the field," was composed of English and Scotch
regiments, whose pluck and endurance have commanded the
admiration of the world from generation to generation,
as exhibited in Spain, at Waterloo, in India, and the Crimea.
It is true that the Hessian regiments represented the hardy
and warlike characteristics of its ancestral tribe, which, as
Bancroft tells us, the Romans could never vanquish ; a nation
of soldiers whose valor had been proven on the battle-fields
of Europe, engaged in a former century by Venice against
the Turks, and who had taken part in the siege of Athens.
Commemorative Oration. 33
But the army of Washington came of stock equally ac-
customed to war and hardship, and they soon commanded
respect no less for their courage than for their moral traits.
Gen. Conway, a distinguished French officer, said to Dr.
Rush, that the people of no other nation were so quickly
transformed into soldiers as those of the United States.
"Those men," said Lord Chatham, in December, 1777, after
the surrender of Burgoyne, — "those men whom you called
cowards, poltroons, runaways, and knaves, are become vic-
torious over your veteran troops, and in the midst ofA^ictory
and the flush of conquest have set ministers an example of
moderation and magnaminity well worthy of imitation."
In the American ranks were the descendants of Hol-
landers and Walloons, who, in the Netherlands, had fought
under the Prince of Orange against Philip of Spain and the
Duke of Alva ; of Frenchmen who had served under Coligni
and Henry of Navarre, whose kinsmen had fallen in the
Massacre of St. Bartholomew's eve, or had passed through
the siege of La Rochelle, waiting in vain for the assistance
promised by Elizabeth and never brought by the Earl of
Leicester. There were the descendants of those who had
fought for Denmark against Tilly and Wallenstein, following
the banner of the great Gustavus ; of the stout Englishmen
who had battled for tht Parliamentarians at Naseby, and who
had brought the King to the block at Whitehall ; of the Swiss
who with pikes in their hands, and stirred by the horns of Uri
and Unterwalden, had defended the freedom of the Cantons in
the defiles of the Alps against the trained soldiers of Austria ;
of the sturdy Burgers who had maintained against the Duke
of Burgundy the liberties of Ghent and Liege ; of the heroes
of different nationality but similar vigor who fought under
Sobieski and saved Vienna from the Turks ; who stood with
William of Orange or with the partisans of James at the
Battle of the Boyne, which placed on firmer foundation the
unity, strength, and freedom of Great Britain ; with the Dutch
at La Hogue, or with that adventurous warrior, Charles the
XII. of Sweden, against his victorious rival, Peter the Great
of Russia. It might have been said of Washington's army as
34 Commemorative Oration.
was well said by the poet of the Centennial of the American
people
" In one strong race all races here unite."
It is, perhaps, natural that the philosophic results of such a
mingling of the best blood of Europe in the American colo-
nies should have been less appreciated in sections that were
settled by a single race than in New York, whose cosmopoli-
tan character recalls the fact that as early as 1643 eighteen
languages were spoken in the New Netherlands.
Most happily for our land, the colonies were gradually
united under the common law and the free institutions of Eng-
land, and their Teutonic, Celtic, and Latin accents were
exchanged for the tongue of Shakespeare and of Milton. But
the varied elements of nationality cannot for that reason be
forgotten by the student if he would read aright American
history and trace to its sources American character. How,
for instance, could he ignore the fact that the New Nether-
lands, under the influence of the Dutch and Huguenots,
became a home for those seeking freedom of conscience
on this continent, as Holland had been the refuge of the
oppressed of Europe, and that the religious toleration of
which the New Netherlands set the example was not fully
enjoyed in New England till William of Orange, in whose
veins was blended the blood of Maurice and of Coligni, ended
by his veto the Massachusetts acts touching witchcraft, heresy,
and blasphemy.
It has been remarked of the study of history, and with
reference to its unity, that the entire succession of men
throughout the world should be regarded as one man always
living and incessantly learning ; in this view to how wide
a field of education, and through what ages of training in the
varied schools of Europe, may be traced the course of Ameri-
can culture.
There is another interesting thought suggested by the pro-
gress of light which has been developed in England by Mr.
Froude, and in France by M. Flammarion ; that to distant
observers the events of years and ages that are gone may
seem to be passing at the present moment. The light of
Commemorative Oration. 35
Sinus, for instance, takes nine years to reach us. il Could
the inhabitants of Sirius," says Mr. Froude, in 1864, " see the
earth at this moment they would see the English army in the
trenches before Sebastopol and Florence Nightingdale watch-
ing at Scutari over the wounded of Inkermann ;" and Flam-
marion suggests that an inhabitant of the earth instantan-
eously transported to Capella in 1872, and looking upon the
stream of light reflected from our planet, could witness the
bloody field of Waterloo.
On a like hypothesis the unknown dwellers at further points
might see passing before their eyes the battle which we com-
memorate to-day, while yet more distant observers receding
into space might follow the historic panorama of our planet
through all the ages, not as a thing of the past but as in
actual progress before their eyes.
Misty as may be to us the more distant periods seen
through the cloudy medium of imperfect annals, we may
still trace the transatlantic sources of our varied civilization,
which, as developed in this Western Continent in our hun-
dredth birth year, make the American traveller, as he sets
foot in parts of Europe, feel, as Ticknor said when he crossed
the Pyrenees, " as if he had gone back two centuries in
time."
Whilst our progress has been respectable in the great ele-
ments of civilization, sundry changes have been introduced into
the theory and practice of our institutions since the days of
Washington, for which Washington and his associates should
not be held responsible. Among these changes are the ex-
tension of the suffrage, especially in municipal affairs, with a
total abandonment of the checks and guards provided by the
wisdom of our fathers : and the substitution of popular elec-
tion for gubernatorial or legislative appointment in the choice
of those officials upon the excellence and purity of whose
management depend the comfort, the good order, and the
exact economy of our cities.
Among the gravest questions presented by our centennial
is the question how far those changes have tended to raise or
to debase our moral standard ; how far it has diminished or
36 Commemorative Oration.
increased waste, mismanagement, and peculation ; how far they
have lightened or augmented to rich and poor the burthens
of taxation. Upon these points we look for light and a prac-
tical solution from the able State Commission headed by Mr.
Evarts.
Another radical change in the practical working of our
popular institutions is exhibited in our existing machinery by
means of caucuses, conventions, and committees for the regu-
lation of the State and National elections ; a scheme outeide
of the Constitution, and, as regards the choice of President,
at variance with its intent, unsanctioned by law, and yet im-
mediately affecting and deciding the elections provided for by
law. It may deserve consideration how far this scheme,
whatever its advantages, tends to facilitate the people in
choosing candidates with the traits they require, or whether
it tends to transfer the choice from the people to the managers,
who might sometimes have views or interests adverse to those
of the electors at large.
Our safety and welfare depend upon the intelligent and
patriotic exercise by the people of the sovereign power.
France has taught us that a plebiscite may be invoked to sus-
tain imperialism ; and from Europe comes the suggestion that
with all our democratic forms we know something of the
despotism of oligarchies ; and that despite the boasted virtue
and cleverness of our people, they are more exposed than
Europeans themselves to official imbecility and corruption.
The example of Washington, whether at the head of the
army or in the chair of State, stands alone in history, and there
is scarcely an event in our annals in which that stately figure
is conspicuous, from which we may not learn a lesson.
Should the opening century have in store for you as the
sovereigns of the land, trials or difficulties like those which
Washington encountered at Kip's Bay ; should you chance
upon emergencies calling for the highest courage and devotion
to protect the honor of the country, and should you, finding
cowardice and treachery where you looked for bravery and
truth, be moved to exclaim, " Are these the men with whom
Commemorative Oration. 37
we are to defend America ? " learn from the action of the
Father of his Country, as he rode down those heights and
looked upon those plains, how to inspire with courage your
demoralized forces, and to wrest victory from defeat.
Show no tenderness to those who betray their posts ; toler-
ate no policy of silence, concealment, or condonement of acts
derogatory to the national fame ; denounce openly each act
of infamy ; threaten official death and public disgrace in your
general orders against all who resist your instructions or who
reflect dishonor on the Republic. But at the same tfme, like
Washington, reanimate your forces : plan with skill your
schemes for the discomfiture of the enemy : call forth your
noblest sons from every college and academy, from the bar,
the pulpit, and the press, as Washington deputed his most
trusty officers — the Putnams, and Clintons, and Greenes, and
Reeds — to accompany and direct the columns against the
boastful foe advancing in open view, and sounding their
bugles in derision.
Let each man who through the coming century shall strive
to defend our national heights against official corruption,
whether it comes secrectly, in silence and in darkness, or in
broad day, like an army with banners, — let each man feel as
Washington taught his troops to feel, that behind him are the
entrenchments of law and the Constitution, and a watchful,
loyal, sustaining, and appreciative people.
We have hastily glanced at the incidents of two days in the
war of the revolution, and the rounding century will presently
embrace in turn each chief event in that memorable struggle.
As we reverently recall our colonial and revolutionary
fathers in the council chamber and in the field, as we cling
with affection and pride to the Republic which they found-
ed, with its widened boundaries, its welded unity, its extend-
ed freedom ; its relations peaceful with all the powers ; its in-
fluence for popular rights ; common schools without sectarian-
ism, and its separation of Church and State, felt in greater or
less degree by all governments and by all peoples : the thought
presses that upon us devolves the duty and the responsibility
of preserving all that is excellent in their work, all that is
38 Commemorative Oration.
noble in their political standard, all that is heroic in their
fame.
Even now, as we linger on the century that has closed, 01
attempt to foreshadow that which has begun, the dignity,
the purity, the stability of the Republic rests upon the honor
of the generation of to-day, as it stands " a link in the chain
of eternal order," between the generations that are past and
those that are to come.
^El^ YORK ISLAND
From Morns House toM? Gowans Pass ,
Redurfioru>/'- < >iiitt/iier.<>M(ipZ>raTf7iyA ? bi>r/776
CLCta* JJarradts iviltty tAe
Americans and burned
on their retreat.
: tfu of Stater X fort, /ZTAariStJtr
APPENDIX.
gen. washington to the president of congress.
Headquarters, at Colonel Morris's House,
i 6 September, 1776.
On Saturday about sunset, six more of the enemy's ships, one or
two of which were men-of-war, passed between Governor's Island and
Red Hook, and went up the East River to the Station taken by those
mentioned in my last. In half an hour I received two expresses,
one from Colonel Sargent at Horen's Hook, giving an account that
the enemy, to the amount of three or four thousand, had marched to
the river, and were embarked for Barn or Montresor's Island where
numbers of them were then encamped ; the other from General Mifflin,
that uncommon and formidable movements were discovered among
the enemy ; which being confirmed by the scouts I had sent out, 1
proceeded to Haerlem, where it was supposed, or at Morrisania oppo-
site to it, the principal attempt to land would be made. However,
nothing remarkable happened that night ; but in the morning they
began their operations. Three ships of war came up the North River
as high as Bloomingdale, which put a total stop to the removal, by
water of any more of our provision ; and about eleven o'clock those
in the East River began a most severe and heavy cannonade, to scour
the grounds, and cover the landing of their troops between Turtle
Bay and the city, where breastworks had been thrown up to oppose
them.
As soon as I heard the firing, I rode with all possible despatch
towards the place of landing, when to my great surprise and mortifica-
tion, I found the troops that had been posted in the lines retreating
with the utmost precipitation, and those ordered to support them
(Parsons's and Fellows's brigades) flying in every direction, and in the
greatest confusion, notwithstanding the exertions of their generals to
form them. I used every means in my power to rally and get them
3
40 Appendix.
into some order ; but my attempts were fruitless and ineffectual ;
and on the appearance of a small party of the enemy, not more than
sixty or seventy, their disorder increased, and they ran away in the
greatest confusion, without firing a single shot.
Finding that no confidence was to be placed in these brigades,
and apprehending that another party of the enemy might pass over
to Haerlem Plains and cut off the retreat to this place, I sent orders
to secure the heights in the best manner with the troops that were
stationed on and near them ; which being done, the retreat was
effected with but little or no loss of men, though of a considerable
part of our baggage, occasioned by this disgraceful and dastardly
conduct. Most of our heavy cannon, and part of our stores and pro-
visions, which we were about removing, were unavoidably left in the
city, though every means, after it had been determined in council to
evacuate the post, had been used to prevent it. We are now
encamped with the main body of the army on the Heights of Haer-
lem, where I should hope the enemy would meet with a defeat in
case of an attack, if the generality of our troops would behave with
tolerable bravery. But experience, to my extreme affliction, has
convinced me that this is rather to be wished for than expected.
However, I trust that there are many who will act like men, and
show themselves worthy of the blessings of freedom. I have sent
some reconnoitring parties to gain intelligence, if possible, of the dis-
position of the enemy, and shall inform Congress of every material
event by the earliest opportunity.
[Writings of Washington, Vol. IV., p. 93.]
GEN. WASHINGTON TO THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS.
Headquarters, at Coloimel Roger Morris's House,
18, September 1776.
As my letter of the 16th contained intelligence of an important
nature, and such as might lead Congress to expect that the evacua-
tion of New York and retreat to the Heights of Haerlem, in the
manner they were made, would be succeeded by some other inter-
esting event, I beg leave to inform them, that as yet nothing has
been attempted upon a large and general plan of attack. About the
time of the post's departure with my letter, the enemy appeared in
Appendix, 41
several large bodies upon the plains, about two and a half miles from
hence. I rode down to our advanced posts, to put matters in a pro-
per situation, if they should attempt to come on. When I arrived
there I heard a firing, which, I was informed, was between a party of
our Rangers under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Knowlton,
and an advanced party of the enemy. Our men came in and told
me, that the body of the enemy, who kept themselves concealed,
consisted of about three hundred, as near as they could guess. I
immediately ordered three companies of Colonel Weedon's regiment
from Virginia, under the command of Major Leitch, an# Colonel
Knowlton with his Rangers, composed of volunteers from different
New England regiments, to try to get in their rear, while a disposi-
tion was making as if to attack them in front, and thereby draw their
whole attention that way.
This took effect as I wished on the part of the enemy. On the
appearance of our party in front, they immediately ran down the
hill, and took possession of some fences and bushes, and a smart
firing began, but at too great a distance to do much execution on either
side. The parties under Colonel Knowlton and Major Leitch
unluckily began their attack too soon, as it was rather in flank than
in rear. In a little time Major Leitch was brought off wounded,
having received three balls through his side ; and, in a short time
after, Colonel Knowlton got a wound, which proved mortal. Their
men however persevered, and continued the engagement with the
greatest resolution. Finding that they wanted a support, I advanced
part of Colonel Griffith's and Colonel Richardson's Maryland regi-
ments, with some detachments from the Eastern regiments who were
nearest the place of action. These troops charged the enemy with
great intrepidity, and drove them from the wood into the plain, and
were pushing them from thence, having silenced their fire in a great
measure, when I judged it prudent to order a retreat, fearing the
enemy, as I have since found was really the case, were sending a
large body to support their party.
Major Leitch, I am in hopes will recover; but Colonel Knowl-
ton' s fall is much to be regretted, as that of a brave and good officer.
We had about forty wounded ; the number of slain is not yet ascer-
tained ; but it is very inconsiderable. By a sergeant, who deserted
from the enemy and came in this morning, I find that their party was
greater than I imagined. It consisted of the second battalion of
Light Infantry, a battalion of the Royal Highlanders, and three com-
42 Appendix.
panies of Hessian Riflemen, under the command of Brigadier-
General Leslie. The deserter reports that their loss in wounded
and missing was eighty-nine, and eight killed. In the latter, his
account is too small, as our people discovered and buried double
that number. This affair I am in hopes, will be attended with
many salutary consequences, as it seems to have greatly inspirited
the whole of our troops. The sergeant further adds, that a consider-
able body of men are now encamped from the East to the North
Rivers, between the seven and eight mile-stones under the command
of General Clinton. General Howe, he believes, has his quarters at
Mr. Apthorp's house.
P.S. — I should have wrote Congress by express before now, had
I not expected the post every minute, which I flatter myself will
be a sufficient apology for my delaying it.
The late losses we have sustained in our baggage and camp necessa-
ries, have added much to our distress, which was very great before.
I must therefore take the liberty of requesting Congress to have for-
warded, as soon as possible, such a supply of tents, blankets, camp-
kettles, and other articles as can be collected ; we cannot be over-
stocked.
[Force's American Archives.]
gen. washington to gen. schuyler.
Headquarters, Colonel Roger Morris's,
ten miles from New York, September 20, 1776.
I clearly see, and have severely felt the ill effects of short inlist-
ments, and have repeatedly given Congress my sentiments thereon.
I believe they are by this time convinced that there is no opposing
a standing, well-disciplined army, but by one upon the same plan ;
and I hope, if this campaign does not put an end to this contest,
they will put the army upon a different footing than what it has
heretofore been. I shall take care to remind them that the terms
for which De Haas's, Maxwell's, and Winds's regiments enlisted,
expire the beginning of October ; but if they have not already
thought of taking some steps to secure them a while longer, it will
be too late, except the officers will exert themselves in prevailing on
the men to stay until their places can be supplied by some means or
Appendix. 43
other. If the officers are spirited and well inclined, they may lead
their men as they please.
I removed my quarters to this place on Sunday last, it having
been previously determined by a Council of General Officers on the
preceding Thursday to evacuate New York. The reasons that prin-
cipally weighed with them were, that from every information, and
every movement of the enemy, it was clear that their attack was not
meditated against the city ; their intent evidently was, to throw their
whole army between part of ours in New York and its environs, and
the remainder about King's Bridge, and thereby cut of£ our com-
munication with each other and with the country. Indeed, their
operations on Sunday last, fully satisfied the opinion of the Council,
and the steps taken in consequence ; for on that morning they began
their landing at Turtle Bay, and continued to throw over great num-
bers of men from Long Island, and from Montressor's and Buchanan's
[s lands, on which they had previously lodged them. As we had
exerted ourselves in removing our sick and stores of every kind, after
the measure of abandoning had been determined upon, very few
things, and but three or four men, fell into the enemy's hands.
On Monday last, we had a pretty sharp skirmish between two bat-
talions of Light Infantry and Highlanders and three companies of
Hessian Riflemen, commanded by Brigadier Leslie, and detachments
from our army, under the command of Lieutenant- Colonel Knowlton,
of Connecticut, and Major Leitch, of Virginia. The Colonel received
a mortal wound, and the Major three balls through his body, but he
is likely to do well. Their parties behaved with great bravery, and
being supported with fresh troops, beat the enemy fairly from the
field. Our loss, except in that of Colonel Knowlton, a most valu-
able and gallant officer, is inconsiderable — that of the enemy, from
accounts, between eighty and one hundred wounded, and fifteen or
twenty killed. This little advantage has inspirited our troops pro-
digiously ; they find that it only requires resolution and good officers
to make an enemy (that they stood in too much dread of) give way.
The British army lies encamped about two miles below us ; they
are busy in bringing over their cannon and stores from Long Island,
and we are putting ourselves in the best posture of defence that time
and circumstances will admit of.
[Force's American Archives.] j
44 Appendix.
GEN. WASHINGTON TO THE N. Y. STATE CONVENTION.
Headquarters, at the Heights of Harlem,
September 23, 1776.
Sir : — Your favour of the 21st instant, enclosing the resolution of
the Representatives of the State of New York, has come duly to
hand, and will be properly attended to. I am exceedingly obliged
by the readiness you declare you will pay to any commands which
you may receive from me respecting the great cause in which we are
engaged.
The manoeuvres of the enemy, before their landing on Sunday last,
were various and perplexing; however, about eight o'clock in the
morning, they became extremely plain and obvious. At that time
they began their operations by sending three ships of war up the
North River as high as Bloomingdale, which put a stop to the remo-
val of our stores by water ; and about eleven o'clock those in the
East River began a constant and heavy cannonade for the purpose of
scouring the grounds and covering the landing of their troops, where
breastworks had been thrown up to oppose them. As soon as I
heard the firing I immediately repaired to the place of landing, when,
to my extreme astonishment, I discovered the troops, who were
posted in the lines, retreating in the greatest disorder, and Parsons' s
and Fellows' s brigades, who were directed to support them, retreat-
ing in the greatest confusion, and without making the slightest oppo-
sition, although only a small party of the enemy appeared in view.
As I perceived no dependence could be reposed in these troops,
and apprehending another impression might be made on the Harlem
plains, by which means our retreat to this place might be cut off,
I directed the heights to be secured, and our retreat was effected
with little or no loss of men, though of a considerable part of the
baggage, some of our heavy cannon and a part of our stores and
provisions, which we were about removing, was unavoidably left in
the city, though every means (after it had been determined in coun-
cil to abandon the post) had been used to prevent it.
On Monday morning last, several parties of the enemy appeared
on the high grounds opposite to our heights, and some skirmishing
had happened between our troops and those of the enemy. On
reconnoitring their situation, I formed the design of cutting off such
of them as had or might advance to the extremity of the wood. I
accordingly ordered three companies of Virginia riflemen, under the
Appendix. 45
command of Major Leitch and Colonel Knowlton with his rangers to
endeavour to get in their rear, while an apparent disposition was
making as if to attack them in front. The enemy ran down the hill
with great eagerness to attack the party in front ; but unluckily, from
some mistake or misapprehension, the parties under Major Leitch
and Colonel Knowlton began the fire on their flank instead of their
rear. The Major was soon brought off the field wounded, and
Col. Knowlton soon received a wound, of which he is since dead.
Their men however behaved with the greatest resolution. Finding
that they wanted assistance, I advanced part of Colonel Griffith's
and Colonel Richardson's Maryland regiments, with some detach-
ments of Eastern troops, who charged the enemy and drove them
from the wood to the plain, and were still pursuing, when I judged
it prudent to withdraw them, fearing the enemy might be sending a
a large i enforcement to their troops which were engaged, which
was the case, as I have since understood. A sergeant who deserted
from the enemy has informed me their party was greater than 1 imag-
ined ; as it consisted of the second battalion of Light Infantry, a bat-
talion of Royal Highlanders, and three companies of Hessian Rifle-
men under the command of General Leslie. Their loss, by his
report amounted to eighty-nine wounded and missing, and eight
killed ; in the latter his account is altogether imperfect, as our people
discovered and buried double that number. I am in hopes this little
success will be productive of salutary consequences, as our army
seems to be greatly inspirited by it.
[Correspondence N. Y. Provincial Congress, p. 217.]
GEN. WASHINGTON TO PATRICK HENRY, GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA.
Headquarters, Heights of Harlem,
October 5, 1776.
Our retreat from Long Island, under the peculiar circumstances
we then laboured, became an act of prudence and necessity, and the
evacuation of New York was a consequence resulting from the other.
Indeed, after we discovered the enemy instead of making an attack
upon the city were endeavouring (by means of their ships and supe-
riour land force) either to intercept our retreat, by getting in our rear,
or else by landing their forces between our divisions at King's Bridge,
46 Appendix.
and those in the town, to separate the one from the other, it became
a matter of the last importance to alter the disposition of the army.
These measures, however, although of the most evident utility,
have been productive of some inconvenience ; the troops having
become in some measure dispirited by these successive retreats, and
which, I presume, has also been the case among several of our
friends in the country. In order to recover that military ardour,
which is of the utmost moment to an army, almost immediately on
my arrival at this place I formed a design of cutting off some of the
enemy's light troops, who, encouraged by their successes, had ad-
vanced to the extremity of the high ground opposite to our present
encampment. To effect this salutary purpose, Colonel Knowlton
and Major Leitch were detached with parties of Riflemen and Rangers,
to get in their rear, while a disposition was made as if to attack them
in front. By some unhappy mistake, the fire was commenced from
that quarter rather on their flank than in their rear, by which means
though the enemy were defeated and pushed off the ground, yet they
had an opportunity of retreating to their main body. This piece of
success, though it tended greatly to inspire our troops with con-
fidence, has been in some measure embittered by the loss of those
two brave officers, who are dead of the wounds they received in the
action. Since this skirmish except the affair at Montressor's Island,
where Major Henly, another of our best officers was slain, there has
been nothing of any material consequence. Indeed, the advantage
obtained over the enemy's light troops might have been improved,
perhaps, to a considerable extent, had we been in a proper situation
to have made use of this favourable crisis, but a want of confidence
in the generality of the troops has prevented me from availing my-
self of that, and almost every other opportunity which has presented
itself.
I own my fears that this must ever be the case when our depend-
ence is placed on men inlisted for a few months, commanded by
such officers as party or accident may have furnished, and on Militia,
who, as soon as they are fairly fixed in the camp, are impatient to
return to their own homes ; and who, from an utter disregard of all
discipline and restraint among themselves, are but too apt to infuse
the like spirit into others. The evils of short inlistments, and em-
ploying militia to oppose against regular and well appointed troops,
I strongly urged to Congress before the last army was engaged. In-
deed, my own situation at Cambridge, about the close of the last
Appendix. 47
campaign, furnished the most striking example of the fatal tendency
of such measures. I then clearly foresaw that such an armament
as we had good reason to expect would be sent against us, could be
opposed only by troops inlisted during the war, and where every
action would add to their experience and improvement, and of whom,
if they were unsuccessful in the beginning, a reasonable hope might
be entertained that in time they would become as well acquainted
with their business as their enemies. This method, I am convinced,
would have been attended with every good consequence ; for, besides
the Militia's being altogether unfit for the service when called into the
field, we have discovered, from experience that they are lirach more
expensive than any other kind of troops ; and that the war could
have been conducted on more moderate terms by establishing a per-
manent body of forces, who were equal to every contingency, than
by calling in the Militia on imminent and pressing occasions.
[Force's American Archives.]
ADJ. GEN. JOSEPH REED TO HIS WIFE.
Heights near Kingsbridge,
Sept. 17, 1776.
I wrote you yesterday p r Post giving you an Account of our leav-
ing New York. This had been determined on several Days ago —
but the Removal of the Sick & many other Circumstances prevented
its being done with that Expedition it ought to have been. Had
the landing of the Enemy been delayed one Day longer we should
have left them the City. But an unfortunate Idea took Place in the
Mind of some of our Northern Generals that it might be defended
or at least that some considerable Opposition might be made to the
Landing — they undertook it — permitted the Enemy to land without
even giving one Fire, could never be form'd but were drove by one
Tenth of their Numbers — However as I gave you a particular
Ace 1 , yesterday I need not repeat it — Just after I had sealed my
Letter & sent it away, an Ace 1 , came that the Enemy were advanc-
ing upon us in three large Columns — we have so many false Reports
that I desired the General to permit me to go & discover what Truth
there was in the Ace*. I accordingly went down to our most ad-
vanced Guard & while I was talking with the Officer, the Enemy's
advanced Guard fired upon us at a small Distance, our men behaved
48 Appendix .
well stood & re turn' d die Fire till overpowered by numbers they
were obliged to retreat — the Enemy advanced upon us very fast
I had not quitted a House 5 minutes before they were in Possession
of it — Finding how things were going I went over to the General to
get some support for the brave Fellows who had behaved so well —
by the Time I got to him the Enemy appeared in open view &
in the most insulting manner sounded their Bugle Horns as is usual
after a Fox Chase. I never felt such a sensation before it seem'd
to crown our Disgrace. The General was prevailed on to order
over a Party to attack them & as I had been upon the Ground which
no one else had it fell to me to conduct them — an unhappy Move-
ment was made by a Reg*, of ours which had been ordered to amuse
them while those I was with expected to take them in the Rear — but
being diverted by this the Virginia Regim*. with which I was went
another course finding there was no stopping them I went with
them the new Way — & in a few Minutes our brave Fellows mounted
up the Rocks & attacked them then they ran in Turn — each Party
sent in more Succours so that at last it became a very considerable
Engagement & Men fell on every side — however our Troops still
press' d on drove the Enemy above a Mile & a half till the General
ordered them to give over the Pursuit fearing the whole of the Ene-
my's Army would advance upon them they retreated in very good
order & I assure you it has given another Face of Things in our
Army — the Men have recovered their Spirits & feel a Confidence
which before they had quite lost — We have several Prisoners & have
buried a considerable Number of their dead — our own Loss is also
considerable — the Virginia Major (Leech) who went up first with me
was wounded with 3 Shott in less than 3 Minutes — but our greatest
Loss was a brave Officer from Connecticut whose Name & Spirit
ought to be immortalized one Col Knowlton — I assisted him off &
when gasping in the Agonies of Death all his Inquiry was if we had
drove the Enemy.
Be not alarm' d, my dear Creature when I tell you the Horse I
rode received a Shot [just] behind his fore shoulder — it happened to
be [one] taken from a Number on the Hill — Tho' [many fell] round
me thank God I was not struck [by] a single Ball & I have the great
Happiness [to know] that I have by getting the General to [direct a]
Reinforcement to go over contributed in [some way] to the Benefit
which may result from this [action]. When I speak of its Impor-
tance I do not mean that I think the Enemy have suffered a Loss
Appendix. 49
which will affect their operations— but it has given Spirits to our
Men that I hope they will now look the Enemy in the Face with
Confidence— but alas our situation here must soon be a very distress-
ing one if we do not receive much Relief in the Articles of stores,
Provision, Forage & c . The Demands of a large Army are very
great & we are in a very doubtful Condition on this Head.
[Reed Papers, N. Y. Historical Society.]
ADJ. GEN. JOSEPH REED TO HIS WIFE.
New York, Sept. 22. 1776.
I have just received yours of the 20 th by which I imagine one of
mine wrote the Day after the Engagement of the 17 th had not got
to Hand wherein I gave you the particulars which I was able to do
better than almost any other Person as I happened to be in it when
it began & assisted in calling off our Troops — when they had pursued
the Enemy as far as was thought proper. It hardly deserves the
Name of a Battle, but as it was a Scene so different from what had
happened the Day before it elevated our Troops very much & in
that Respect has been of great Service It would take up too much
Time & Paper to go into a minute Description of the whole Affair.
The Substance is, that we had a Party out under a very brave Con-
necticut officer Knowlton (who fell) watching the Motions of the
Enemy — an Ace 1 was brought up that the Enemy was advancing
upon us in 3 Columns — but as we had so often been deceived by
these Reports — I went out to see what Truth there was in it — & fell
in with the above Party — while I was talking with the Officer the
Enemy advanced & the Firing began at about 50 Yards Distance
as they were 10 to 1 ag* our Party we immediately retreated — I
came off to the General & after some ^little Hesitation prevailed on
him to let a Party go up — which as I had been on the Ground I led
myself they were Virginia Troops commanded by a brave Officer
Major Leech — I accordingly went with them but was unhappily
thwarted in my Scheme by some Persons calling to the Troops & tak-
ing them out of the Road I intended — however we went up both Men
& Officers with great spirit — at the same Time some of our Troops
on another Quarter moved up towards the Enemy & the Action
began — Major Leech fell near me in a few Minutes with 3 Balls
50 Appendix.
through him but is likely to do well. Knowlton also fell mortally
wounded I mounted him on my Horse & brought him off — In
about 10 [minutes] our People pressing on with great Ardour the
Enemy gave Way & left us the Ground which was strew' d pretty
thick with dead chiefly of the Enemy tho it since turns out that
our Loss is also considerable — The pursuit of a flying Enemy
was so new a Scene that it was with Difficulty our Men could be
brought to retreat — which they did in very good Order — we buried the
Dead & brought off the wounded on both sides as far as our troops
had pursued. We have since learned that the main Body of the
Enemy was hastily advancing so that in all Probability there would
have been a Reverse of Things if the Pursuit had not been given
over as it was — You can hardly conceive the Change it made in
our Army — I hope its Effects will be lasting — You will probably
hear from other Quarters the double Escape I had — My own Horse
not being at Hand I borrowed one from a young Philadelphian — he
received a Shot just behind his fore Shoulder which narrowly missed
my Leg. I am told that he is since dead — But the greatest was from
one of our own Rascals who was running away, upon my driving
him back a second Time he presented his Piece & snapp'd at me
at about a Rod Distance — I seized a Piece from another Soldier
& snapp'd at him — but he had the same good Luck. He has been
since tried & is now under Sentence of Death — but I believe I
must beg him off as after I found I could not get the Gun off, I
wounded him in the Head & cut off his Thumb with my Hanger — I
suppose many Persons will think it was rash & imprudent for Officers
of our Rank to go into such an Action (Gen 1 Puttnam, Gen. Green,
many of the General's family — M r Tilghman & e were in it) but it was
really done to animate the Troops who were quite dispirited & would
not go into Danger unless their officers led the Way.
Our Situation is very much the same as it was — we are fortifying
Ground naturally strong. The Enemy lay about 3 Miles from us —
they have been very busy bringing over Cannon, & c from Long
Island but we cannot learn what they intend.
The Night before last there was a most dreadful Fire in the City
but how it happened we are quite at a Loss — There was a Resolve of
Congress against our injuring it, so that we neither set it on Fire or
made any Preparations for the Purpose — Tho I make no Doubt it
will be charged to us.
[Reed Papers, N. Y. Historical Society.]
Appendix. 5 1
GEN. GEORGE CLINTON TO NEW YORK CONVENTION.
Kings Bridge, September 18, 1776.
Since my last, many matters of Importance to the Public, and
more particularly to this State, have taken place ; But I have been
so Situated as neither to find Leisure or Opportunity of communica-
ting them to Congress. I returned late last Night from the Com-
mand of the Picquet or Advanced Party, in the Front of our Lines,
and was just setting down to write to the Convention, and intended
sending an Express, when I was favored with yours of Yesterday.
About the middle of last Week it was determined, for many Rea-
sons, to evacuate the City of New York ; and accordingly Orders
were given for removing the Ordnance, Military, & other Stores
from thence, which, by Sunday morning was nearly effected. On
Saturday, four of the Enemy's large Ships passed by the City up the
North River, and anchored near Greenage, and about as many
more up the East River, which anchored in Turtle Bay ; and from
the Movements of the Enemy on Long Island and the small Islands
in the East River, we had great reason to apprehend they intended to
make a Landing, and attack our Lines somewhere near the City.
Our Army for some Days had been moving upwards this way, and
encamping on the Heights, south-west of Co 11 . Morris's, where we
intended to form Lines, and make our grand Stand. On Sunday
morning the Enemy landed a very considerable Body of Troops,
principally consisting of their Light Infantry & Grenadiers, near Turtle
Bay, under Cover of a very heavy Cannonade from their Shipping,
our Lines were but thinly manned as they were then intended only to
secure a Retreat to the Rear of our Army, & unfortunately by such
Troops as were so little disposed to stand in the way of Grape Shot
that the main Body of them almost instantly retreated, nay, fled with-
out a possibility of rallying them, tho' General Washington himself
(who rid to the spot on hearing the Cannonade) with some other
General Officers, exerted themselves to effect it.
The Enemy, on Landing, immediately formed a Line across the
Island, most of our People were luckily North of it, and joined the
Army. Those few that were in the City crossed the River, chiefly to
Powles-Hook, so that our loss in Men, Artillery, or Stores, is very
inconsiderable. I don't believe it exceeds 100 Men, and I fancy
most of them, from their Conduct, staid out of Choice. Before
52 Appendix.
Evening, the Enemy landed the main Body of their Army, took
Possession of the City, & marched up the Island, & encamped on the
Heights extending from McGown'sand the Black Horse to the North
River.
On Monday morning, about ten o' Clock, a party of the Enemy,
consisting of Highlanders, Hessians, the Light Infantry, Grenadiers,
and English Troops (Number uncertain) attack' d our advanc'd Party,
commanded by Co 11 . Knowlton at Martje Davits Fly. They were
opposed with spirit, and soon made to retreat to a clear Field, south-
west of that about 200 paces, where they lodged themselves behind
a Fence covered with Bushes our People attacked them in Turn,
and caused them to retreat a second Time, leaving five dead on the
Spot, we pursued them to a Buckwheat Field on the Top of a high
Hill, distance about four hundred paces, where they received a con-
siderable Reinforcement, with several Field Pieces, and there made
a Stand a very brisk Action ensued at this Place, which continued
about Two Hours our People at length worsted them a third Time,
caused them to fall back into an Orchard, from thence across a
Hollow, and up another Hill not far distant from their own Lines —
A large Column of the Enemy's Army being at this Time discovered
to be in motion, and the Ground we then occupied being rather
disadvantageous a Retreat likewise, without bringing on a general
Action, (which we did not think prudent to risk,) rather insecure,
our party was therefore ordered in, and the Enemy was well con-
tented to hold the last Ground we drove them to.
We lost, on this occasion, Co 11 Knowlton a brave Officer & sixteen
Privates, kill'd. Major Leech, from Virginia, and about Eight or ten
subaltern Officers and Privates wounded. The Loss of the Enemy is
uncertain. They carried their Dead and wounded off, in and soon
after the Action ; but we have good Evidence of their having up-
wards of 60 kill'd, & violent presumption of 100. The Action, in the
whole, lasted ab* 4 Hours.
I consider our Success in this small affair, at this Time, almost
equal to a Victory. It has animated our Troops, gave them new
Spirits, and erazed every bad Impression, the Retreat from Long
Island, &c. had left on their minds, they find they are able, with
inferior Numbers, to drive their Enemy, and think of nothing now
but Conquest.
Since the above affair, nothing material has happened the Enemy
keep close to their Lines. Our advanc'd Parties continue at their
Appendix. 53
former Station. We are daily throwing up Works to prevent the
Enemy advancing ; great attention is paid to Fort Washington, the
Posts opposite to it on the Jersey Shore, & the Obstructions in
the River which, I have reason to believe, is already effectual, so
as to prevent their Shipping passing ; however, it is intended still to
add to them, as it is of the utmost consequence to keep the Enemy
below us.
[Miscellaneous MSS., N. Y. Historical Society.]
y
GEN. GEORGE CLINTON TO DR. PETER TAPPEN.
King's Bridge 21st. Sept. 1776.
I have been so hurried & Fatigued out of the ordinary way of my
Duty by the removal of our Army from New York & great Part of
the public stores to this Place that it has almost worn me out tho' as
to Health I am well as usual ; but how my Constitution has been able
to stand lying out several Nights in the Open Air & exposed to Rain
is almost a Miracle to me — Whom at Home the least Wet indeed
some Times the Change of Weather almost laid me up.
The Evacuation of the City I suppose has much alarmed the
Country. It was judged untenable in Council of Gen 1 Officers con-
sidering the Enemy possessed of Long-Island &c, and was therefore
advised to be evacuated. The Artillery (at least all worth moving) &
almost all the public stores were removed out of it so that when
the Enemy landed & attacked our Lines near the City we had but
few Men there (those indeed did not behave well) our Loss however
by our Retreat from there either in Men or Stores is very inconsider-
able. I would not be understood that it is my Opinion to evacuate
the City neither do I mean now to condemn the Measure it is
done intended for the best I am certain.
The same Day the Enemy possessed themselves of the City, to
wit, last Sunday they landed the Main Body of their Army & en-
camped on York Island across about the Eight Mile Stone & between
that & the four Mile Stone. Our Army at least one Division of it
lay at Col° Morris's & so southward to near the Hollow Way which
runs across from Harlem Flat to the North River at Matje Davit's
Fly. About halfway between which two Places our Lines run across
the River which indeed at that Time were only began but are now in
a very defensible state. On Monday Morning the Enemy attacked
54 Appendix.
our Advanced Party Commanded by Col° Knowlton (a brave Officer
who was killed in the Action) near the Point of Matje Davit's Fly
the Fire was very brisk on both sides our People however soon drove
them back into a Clear Field about 200 Paces South East of that
where they lodged themselves behind a Fence covered with Bushes
our People pursued them but being oblidged to stand exposed in the
open Field or take a Fence at a Considerable Distance they pre-
ferred the Latter it was indeed adviseable for we soon brought a
Couple t>f Field Pieces to bear upon them which fairly put them to
Flight with two Discharges only the Second Time our People pur-
sued them closely to the Top of a Hill about 400 paces distant where
they received a very Considerable Reinforcement & made their Sec-
ond Stand Our People also had received a Considerable Rein-
forcement, and at this Place a very brisk Action commenced which
continued for near two Hours in which Time we drove the Enemy
into a Neighbouring orchard from that across a Hollow & up another
Hill not far Distant from their own Encampment, here we found the
Ground rather Disadvantageous & a Retreat insecure we therefore
thot proper not to pursue them any farther & retired to our first
first Ground leaving the Enemy on the last Ground we drove them
to — that Night I commanded the Right Wing of our advanced Party
or Picket on the Ground the Action first began of which Col° Pawl-
ing & Col° Nicoll's Regiment were part and next Day I sent a Party
to bury our Dead. They found but 1 7. The Enemy removed theirs
in the Night we found above 60 Places where dead Men had lay
from Pudles of Blood & other appearances & at other Places frag-
ments of Bandages & Lint. From the best Account our Loss killed
& wounded is not much less than seventy seventeen of which only
dead (this Account of our Loss exceeds what I mentioned in a Let-
ter I wrote Home indeed at that Time I only had an account of the
Dead — the Wounded were removed — 12 oclock M. Sunday two
Deserters from on Board the Bruno Man of War lying at Morrisania
say the Enemy had 300 killed on Monday last,) the Rest most likely
do well & theirs is somewhere about 300 — upwards it is generally
believed — Tho I was in the latter Part indeed almost the whole of
the Action I did not think so many Men were engaged. It is with-
out Doubt however they had out on the Occasion between 4 and
5000 of their choicest Troops & expected to have drove us off
the Island. They are greatly mortified at their Disappointment &
have ever since been exceedingly modest & quiet not having even
Appendix. 5 5
patroling Parties beyond their Lines — I lay within a Mile of them
the Night after the battle & never heard Men work harder I believe
they thought we intended to pursue our Advantage & Attack them
next Morning.
If I only had a Pair of Pistols I coud I think have shot a Rascal
or two I am sure I would at least have shot a puppy of an Officer I
found slinking off in the heat of the Action.
[N. Y. City during the American Revolution, published by the N. Y. Mercantile
Library Association.]
J
GEN. GREENE TO NICHOLAS COOKE, GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND.
Camp at Harlem Heights,
September 17. 1776.
I suppose you have heard of the retreat from Long-Island, and the
evacuation of New York. The retreats were both judicious and
necessary, our numbers being very insufficient to hold such an extent
of ground. His Excellency had proposed to evacuate the city and
suburbs of New York some time before the enemy made their last
landing, and had the Quartermaster-General been able to furnish the
necessary wagons to remove the stores and baggage, the retreat
would have been effected in good order, had the enemy delayed
their landing twenty-four hours longer. Almost all the old standing
regiment was drawn out of the city, in order to oppose the enemy at
Hell-Gate, where they made an appearance of a very large body of
troops, and movements as if they intended a landing.
We made a miserable, disorderly retreat from New York, owing to
the disorderly conduct of the Militia, who ran at the appearance of
the enemy's advance guard ; this was General Fellows' s brigade.
They struck a panick into the troops in the rear, and Fellows' s and
Parson s's whole brigade ran away from about fifty men, and left his
Excellency on the ground within eighty yards of the enemy, so vexed
at the infamous conduct of the troops, that he sought death rather
than life.
The retreat was on the 14th of this instant, from New York ; most
of the troops got off, but we lost a prodigious deal of baggage and
stores. On the 16th we had a skirmish at Harlem Heights : a party
of about a thousand came and attacked our advance post. They
met with a very different kind of reception from what they did the
4
56 Appendix.
day before. The fire continued about an hour, and the enemy
retreated ; our people pursued them, and by the spirited conduct of
General Putnam and Colonel Reed the Adjutant General, our people
advanced upon the plain ground without cover, and attacked them
and drove them back. His Excellency sent and ordered a timely
retreat to our advanced post, for he discovered or concluded the
enemy would send a large reinforcement, as their main body lay near
by. I was sick when the army retreated from Long Island, which
by the by, was the best effected retreat I ever read or heard of, con-
sidering the difficulty of the retreat. The Army now remains quiet,
but expect an attack every day. Col. Varnum's and Col. Hitch-
cock's regiments were in the last action, and behaved nobly, but
neither of the Colonels was with them, both being absent — one sick,
the other taking care of the sick.
[Force's American Archives.]
LEWIS MORRIS, JR., TO HIS FATHER.
Headquarters, Septb r 18 th 177b.
Monday morning an advanced party, Colonel Knowlton's regi-
ment, was attacked by the enemy upon a height a little to the south-
west of Days' s Tavern, and after opposing them bravely and being
overpowered by their numbers they were forced to retreat, and the
enemy advanced upon the top of the hill opposite to that which lies
before Dayes's door, with a confidence of Success, and after rallying
their men by a bugle horn and resting themselves a little while, they
descended the hill with an intention to force our flanking party,
which extended from the North river to the before mentioned hill, but
they received so warm a fusilade from that flank and a party that
went up the hill to flank them and cut off their retreat, that they
were forced to give way. Their loss is something considerable,
ours, about forty wounded and twelve killed. The impression it
made upon the minds of our people is a most signal victory to us,
and the defeat a considerable mortification to them.
[From the original in possession of Harry M. Morris.]
Appendix. 57
COL. G. S. SILLIMAN TO HIS WIFE.
Harlem Heights,
17 Sept. 1776. 2 o'cl p.m.
Yesterday at 7 o'clock in the morning we were alarmed with the
sight of a considerable number of the enemy on the Plains below us
about a mile distant. — Our Brigades which form a line across the
Island where I am were immediately ordered under arms — but as the
enemy did not immediately advance we grounded our arms & took
spades & shovels & went to work & before night had thrown up lines
across the Island — There was nothing before but three little redoubts
in about a mile & we are at work this day in strengthening them.
But yesterday a little before noon we heard a strong firing about half
a mile below us in the woods near where we had two Brigades lying
as an advanced guard. The enemy in a large body advanced in the
woods a little before 12 o'cl & began a heavy fire on those two Bri-
gades who maintained the fire obstinately for some time & then they
were reinforced by several regiments & the fire continued very heavy
from the musketry & from field pieces about two hours — in which
time our people drove the regulars back from post to post about a
mile & a half & then left them pretty well satisfied with their dinner
since which they have been very quiet. Our loss on this occasion
by the best information is about 25 killed & 40 or 50 wounded. The
enemy by the best accounts have suffered much more than we.
A prisoner we have I am told says that Genl. Howe himself com-
manded the regular & Genl. Washington & Genl. Putnam were both
with our Troops. They have found now that when we meet them on
equal ground we are not a set of people that will run from them —
but that they have now had a pretty good drubbing, tho' this was an
action between but a small party of the army.
[Notes to Jones's History of New York during the American Revolution, now
in press for the N. Y. Historical Society.]
GEN. KNOX TO HIS BROTHER WILLIAM KNOX.
Heights of Harlem, 8 miles from N. York, Sept. 23, 1776.
The affair of last Monday has had some good consequences toward
raising the peoples spirits — they find that if they stick to these mighty
men they will run as fast as other people. Our people pursued them
58 Appendix.
nearly two miles — about 1,500 of our people engaged of the enemy
about the same number viz., the 2d. Battalion light infantry, the
Highlands or 42d. 6th Battalion of Grenadiers and some Hessians.
The grounds on which we now possess are strong. I think we shall
defend them — if we dont I hope God will punish us both in this World
and the World to come if the fault is ours.
[Knox Papers, N. Y. Historic Genealogical Society.]
MAJOR NICHOLAS FISH TO JOHN M c KESSON SECRETARY N. Y. CON-
VENTION.
KlNGSBRIDGE, 19 th Sept r 1 776.
Our Retreat from the City, you no Doubt must have heard of er'e
this. This Phoenomenon took Place on Sunday Morn? last when our
Brigade, who were the last in the City excepting the Guards marched
to the lines back of Stuyvesants, where from the Movements of the
Enemy it was evident was the determination for landing. — The Ene-
my's Ships of War being drawn up in line of Battle parallel to the
shore the Troops to the amount of about 4,000 being embarked in
flat bottom Boats, and the Boats paraded — A Cannonade from the
Ships began, which far exceeded my Ideas, and which seemed to
infuse a Panic thro' the whole of our Troops, especially the Connec-
ticut Troops who unfortunately were posted upon the left, where the
Enemy landed without the least opposition ; for upon their near
approach to the Shore these dastardly sons of Cowardice deserted
their Lines & fled in the greatest Disorder & precipitature & I know
not but I may venture to say Infected those upon the Right, who
speedily copied their vile conduct & then pursued them in their
flight. I am sorry to say that the Panic seized as well Officers (&
those of distinction) as Men, in so much that it magnified the Num-
ber of the Enemy to thrice the Reality & generated substances from
their own shadows, which greatly assisted them in their flight to the
Heights above Harlem.
We are now in possession of the ground from the Heights of Har-
lem to the Heights of West Chester, our advance Guard is posted a
Mile from our Lines ; here it was that our brave and heroic Mary-
landers, Virginians, &c. made a Noble & resolute stand against the
Efforts of the Enemy on Monday the 16th drove them back, pur-
Appendix. 59
sued, and forced them to retire — The Conduct of our Troops on
this occasion was so counter to that of some others the preceding
Day as nearly to form a Counterprise.
Our troops were in a most desponding Condition before, but now
are in good spirits.
P.S. In the action of the 16th we lost about 17 killed and I
believe as many wounded. It is remarkable that all our killed were
shot thro' the Head which induces the belief that they were first
taken Prisoners & then massacred. — The Number of the Enemy
killed and wounded is not yet known, but it is generally thought,
they far exceed us.
[Historical Magazine, Second Series, III., 33.]
JOHN GOOCH TO THOMAS FAYERWEATHER, MERCHANT AT BOSTON.
New Jersey. Fort Constitution, Sept. 23. 1776.
I know you must be anxious for the certainty of events of which
you can have at that distance but a confused account, as I was on
the spot will endeavor to give you as Concise & Just account as pos-
sible ; on the 15th Inst we evacuated New York & took all stores of
every kind out of the City, and took Possession of the hights of Haer-
lem eight miles from the City, the Enemy encamp' d about two miles
from us; on the 16th the Enemy advanced and took Possession of a
hight on our Right Flank ab l half a mile Distance with about 3000
men, a Party from our Brigade of 150 men who turned out as
Volunteers under the command of Lieut. Col° Crary of the Regm*
I belong to were ordered out if possible to dispossess them, in about
20 minutes the Engagement began with as terrible a fire as ever 1
heard, when Orders came for the whole Brigade immediately to march
to support the first detachment, the Brigade Consisted of ab l 900
men, we immediately formed in front of the Enemy and march' d up
in good order through their fire, which was incessant till within 70
yards, when we Engaged them in that situation, we engaged them for
one hour and eight minits, when the Enemy Broke & Ran, we pur-
sued them to the next hights, when we were ordered to Retreat.
Our loss does not exceed in killed and wounded twenty five men,
the loss of the Enemy was very considerable but cannot be ascer-
tained, as we observed them to carry of their dead and wounded the
whole time of the Engagement, they left a Number of killed and
6o Appendix.
wounded on the Field of Battle & a great number of small Armes,
the great Superiority of Numbers and every other advantage the
Enemy had, when considered makes the Victory Glorious, and tho'
but over a part of their Army yet the Consequences of it are at-
tended with advantages very great, as they immediately quited the
hights all round us and have not been troublesome since, our people
behaved with the greatest Spirit, and the New England men have
gained the first Lawrells. I received a slight wound in the Anckle
at the first of the Engagement but never quited the Field during the
Engagement. I'm now Ready to give them the second part when-
ever they have an appetite, as I'm convinced whenever stir from their
chips we shall drubb them.
[N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register, XXX., 334.]
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM AN OFFICER IN OUR ARMY TO HIS
FRIEND IN THIS TOWN, DATED NEW HARLEM, SEPT. 2 1, 1 776.
New London, Sept 27.
Last Monday the Enemy landed at New York, under Cover of
their Shipping, when our whole Army retreated to this Place. As for
myself I was out on a scouting Party as far as Hunt's Point — and on
hearing the Cannon I immediately returned to the Regiment of Ran-
gers, but too late to go ii.to the City — Well, on Monday Morning
the General ordered us to go and take the Enemy's advanced
Guard ; accordingly we set out just before Day, and found where
they were ; at Day-brake we were discovered by the Enemy, who
were 400 strong, and we were 120— they march'd up within six
Rods of us, and there form'd to give us Battle which we were ready
for ; and Colonel Knowlton gave Orders to fire, which we did, and
stood theirs till we perceived they were getting their Flank-Guards
round us. After giving them eight Rounds a Piece the Colonel gave
Orders for Retreating, which we performed very well, without the Loss
of a Man while Retreating, though we lost about 10 while in Action.
We retreated two Miles and a Half and then made a Stand, and sent
orT for a Reinforcement, which we soon received, and drove the Dogs
near three Miles. — My poor Colonel, in the second Attack, was shot
just by my Side, the Ball entered the small of his Back — I took hold
of him, asked him if he was badly wounded ? he told me he was ; but,
says he, I do not value my Life if we do but get the Day : I then
Appendix. 6 1
ordered two Men to carry him off. He desired me by all Means to
keep up this Flank. He seemed as unconcern'd and calm as tho'
nothing had happened to him. In the Spot where the Colonel was
wounded, at least within 4 Rods round him, lay 15 or 16 of the
Enemy dead, with 5 or 6 of our People. Several Deserters say we
made great Havock among them. The next Day we went to bury
our Dead, and found near a Dozen with their Heads split open by
the Hessians.
[Connecticut Gazette, Sept. 27, 1776.]
EXTRACT OF A LETTER TO A GENTLEMAN IN ANNAPOLIS, DATED
HEADQUARTERS, SEPT. 1 7, I 7 76.
We are now encamped between York and King's Bridge, on very
advantageous heights, and have formed our lines from the North
River to a Creek that makes out of the East River, running up to
King's Bridge.
Soon after we came to New York, there was a council held by the
General Officers, and the question was put, whether New York was
tenable against the King's forces. It was carried in the negative.
Three days ago the whole of our troops evacuated New York ;
and the day before yesterday the Kings troops landed about three
miles below this, where there were two brigades stationed, who aban-
doned their posts with precipitation.
Yesterday morning the Regulars came within half a mile of our
lines, and made a stand. A few of our scouts, who were out,
attacked and drove them off. In two hours after, two thousand of
them returned. Gen. Beall sent out three companies of Riflemen,
under the command of Major Mantz, who attacked them. Immedi-
ately Gen. Washington reinforced with the remainder of our brigade,
together with Gen. Weedon's regiment from Virginia, Major Price's
three independent companies, and one regiment of Rhode Islanders.
Never did troops go to the field with more cheerfulness and alacrity ;.
when there began a heavy fire on both sides. It continued about
one hour, when our brave Southern troops dislodged them from their
posts. The enemy rallied, and our men beat them the second time.
They rallied again ; our troops drove them the third time, and were
rushing on them, but the enemy had got on an eminence, and our
troops were ordered to retreat, the General considering there might
62 Appendix.
be a large number of the enemy behind the hill concealed ; which
was the case. We were informed by a prisoner that our men took,
there were about eight or ten thousand concealed.
From the number of the enemy that I saw lay on the field dead
and wounded, I think their loss must be three or four times ours.
I have not yet been able to get a full account of our loss, only of our
brigade, which is as follows : Capt. Low wounded through both his
thighs. Twelve privates wounded, and three missing. Major Leitch,
of Col. Weedon's regiment received three balls through his belly.
More is the pity, for never was a braver hero. He stood the field,
with the greatest bravery, till the third shot, when he was obliged to
fall. He appears to be in good spirits. The Doctors are of opin-
ion that he will recover. Col. Knowlton from Boston, killed in the
field who distinguished himself at Bunker's Hill, as well as in this
engagement. He will be interred to-day with all the honours of war.
From our present situation, it is firmly my opinion we shall give
them a genteel drubbing, in case the Yankees will fight with as much
spirit as the Southern troops. As near as I can collect, our loss,
killed, and wounded, and taken, amounts to fifty men. We expect
every hour that the general engagement will come on ; and if we
prove successful, the campaign will be settled for this present year.
Gen. Washington gave great applause to our Maryland troops, for
their gallant behaviour yesterday.
[Force's American Archives.]
COL. SMALLWOOD TO THE CONVENTION OF MARYLAND.
Camp of the Maryland Regulars, Head-Quarters, Oct. 12, 1776.
General Washington [Sept. 15] expressly sent and drew our regi-
ment from its brigade, to march down towards New York, to cover
the retreat, and to defend the baggage, with direction to take posses-
sion of an advantageous eminence near the enemy, upon the main
road, where we remained under arms the best part of the day, till
Sargent's brigade came in with their baggage, who were the last
troops coming in, upon which the enemy divided their main body
into two columns, one filing off on the North River, endeavoured to
flank and surround us ; we had orders to retreat in good order,
which was done, our corps getting within the lines a little after dusk.
Appendix. 63
The next day, about 1000 of them made an attempt upon our lines,
and were first attacked by the brave Col. Knovvlton of New England,
who lost his life in the action, and the Third Virginia Regiment,
who were immediately joined by three independent companies under
Major Price, and some part of the Maryland Flying Camp, who drove
them back to their lines, it is supposed with the loss of 400 men killed
and wounded ; our party had about 100 killed and wounded, of the
former only 15. Since which we have been viewing each other at a
distance, and strongly entrenching till the 9th of October, when three
of their men-of-war passed up the North river above King's Bridge,
under a heavy cannonade from our batteries, which has^ effectually
cut off our communication, by water, with Albany.
[Ridgeley's Annals of Annapolis, p. 261.]
CAP. BEATTY OF THE MARYLAND LINE, TO HIS FATHER COL. WIL-
LIAM BEATTY, FREDRICKTOWN.
Camp near Kings Bridge, Sept r 18 th 1776.
I have something worth telling you of what happened this week.
Last Sunday the Enemy landed about 3 miles below us, and at the
sight of 150 of them one brigade & a half of New England troops
ran away in the most precipitated manner & chief of them lost their
baggage ; if they had stood their ground they might have cut them
off. But by their landing they surrounded many of our troops in
York which had no time to get out But they have a strong fort
near New York where they are & have 3 months provision & am-
munition a plenty, & the commander declares that he will not sur-
render while he has either. On Monday last the enemy thought to
drive our troops farther, sallyed out & were attact by Major Mantz
with the 3 rifle companys of our battalion under his command and
Major Price with 3 of the independent companys of Maryland
troops & 3 other companys of Maryland Flying Camp & a battalion
of Virginians & some Northern troops the attack was very sharp on
both sides for one hour & a half & then the enemy retreated one
mile & a half to their lines — In all the action we lost but about 20
men killed & about as many wounded — among the dead is one Col-
onel of the Northern troops. The men all behaved with much
bravery. In Capt Goods company there was but two men wounded,
64 Appendix.
Capt Reynolds one, Capt Grooh two, one of which is the blind Cup-
pers son in Fredktown. The other learnt the hatters trade with
Major Price, his wound is in the breast, the other on the back of his
arm above the joint of his wrist & so down to his fingers, the bone is
not broke Our Company lay out from our tents from Sunday morn-
ing till Tuesday night
[Historical Magazine, Second Series, I., 147.]
MAJOR SAMUEL SHAW TO HIS FATHER FRANCIS SHAW.
Fort Washington, Sept. 18. 1776.
We are now in a much more proper place for carrying on the war
than when in New York, as the enemy's ships can now be of no
service to them in attacking. The day before yesterday we had a
proof of this, when a part of them attempted to force a passage
through some woods, and to take possession of a number of heights,
but were repulsed with loss by an equal if not inferiour body of our
troops who behaved with as much bravery as men possibly could.
[Shaw's Journals, p. 20.]
SAMUEL CHASE TO GEN. GATES.
Philadelphia, September 21. 1776.
On this Day Week the Enemy landed a Body of forces at Turtle
Bay (after a severe Cannonade from their Ships in the East River to
scour the Country and cover their Landing) our Troops posted in
Lines thrown up to oppose their Landing abandoned them at the
first appearance of the Enemy, in the utmost precipitation and Con-
fusion : Two Brigades, commanded by Generals Parsons and Fel-
lows, were ordered to support them, they also fled in every Direc-
tion, without firing a single Shot, notwithstanding the Exertions of
their Generals to form them, and oh, disgraceful, on the appearance
of only about sixty or seventy of the Enemy ! by this infamous Con-
duct We lost a great part of our Baggage and most of our heavy
Cannon which had been left at N York — our army retreated, and
possessed themselves of the Heights of Harlem ; our Headquar-
ters at Roger Morris's house. On Monday last the Enemy appeared
in the plains, 2J Miles from the Heights, about 400 under General
Appendix. 65
Leslie A Skirmish began between them and a Party of Volunteers
from several New England regiments commanded by Col° Knolton.
our People were supported by Companies from a Virginia Battalion
and from two Militia Maryland Regiments. The Enemy were
obliged to retreat, with the Loss of about 100 killed and prisoners-
Col Knolton, a brave officer, was killed. Major Leitch of May d
was wounded and despaired of. The Enemies main Army is now
encamped between 7 and 8 Miles Stones General Howe's Head
Quarters at one M r Apthorp's.
[Gates Papers : N. Y. Historical Society.]
J
AMERICAN GENERAL ORDERS.
Headquarters, i6 ,h September, 1776.
(Parole, Beall) (Countersign, Maryland)
The arrangement for this Night upon the heights commanding the
the hollow way from the North River to the Main Road leading
from New York to Kingsbridge. Gen. Clinton to form next to the
North River, and extend to the left. Gen. Scott's Brigade next to
Gen. Clinton's. Lieut. Col. Sayer of Col. Griffith's Regiment, with
the three Companies intended for a reinforcement to day to form upon
the left of Scott's Brigade. Gen. Nixon's & Col. Sergeants Division,
Col. Weedon's & Major Price's Regiments, are to retire to their
Quarters and refresh themselves, but to hold themselves in readiness
to turn out at a minutes warning. Gen. McDougall to establish
proper Guards against his Brigade upon the heights from Morris's
House, to Gen. McDougalls Camp, to furnish proper Guards to pre
vent a surprise, not less than twenty Men from each Regiment, Gen.
Putnam commands upon the right flank to Night, Gen. Spencer from
McDougall's Brigade up to Morris's House. Should the Enemy at-
tempt to force the pass to-Night, Gen. Putnam is to apply to Gen.
Spencer for a reinforcement.
Headquarters, Sept. 17, 1776.
(Parole, Leitch) (Countersign, Virginia)
The General most heartily thanks the Troops commanded yester-
day by Major Leitch, who first advanced on the Enemy, and the others
who so resolutely supported them, the Behaviour Yesterday is such
a Contrast to that of some Troops the day before, as must shew
66 Appendix.
what may be done where Officers and Soldiers will exert themselves.
Once more therefore the General calls upon Officers and Men to act
up to the Noble Cause in which they are engaged, and support the
Honour and Liberties of their Country.
The Gallant and brave Col. Knowlton who was an Honour to
any Country, having fallen yesterday while gallantly fighting, Capt.
Brown is to take the Command of the Party lately Commanded by
Col. Knowlton ; Officers & Men are to obey him accordingly.
The loss of the Enemy yesterday undoubtedly would have been
much greater, if the orders of the Commander in Chief had not in
some instance been contradicted by some inferior Officers, who,
however well they may mean, ought not to presume to direct. It is
therefore Ordered that no Officer Commanding a Party, and having
received Orders from the Commander in Chief, depart from them
without Counter Orders from the same Authority, and as many may
otherwise err thro' ignorance, the Army is now acquainted that the
General Orders are delivered by the Adjutant General, one of the
Aid de Camps, Mr Tilghman, or Col. Moylan the Quartermaster
General.
[MS. Orderly Book, McDougalFs Brigade, N. Y. Historical Society.]
EXTRACTS FROM THE MS. LITERARY DIARY AND JOURNAL OF OC-
CURRENCES KEPT BY EZRA STILES, D.D., NOW IN THE LIBRARY
OF YALE COLLEGE.
Nov. 10, 1776. General Greene's letter 4th October speaking of
the Enemy's Landing near Turtle Bay & tak'g possess 11 of the City
ofN. Y. 15th Sept r . "The Panic that struck Gen. Fellows's &
communicated itself to Gen. Parsons' Brigade disgraced the last
Retreat. The 2 Brigades run away from about 40 or fifty men, and
left Gen 1 Washington standing alone within an hundred yards of the
Enemy. This disagreeable circumstance made the last Retreat very
disgraceful. The Enemy next day at Harlem Heights, flushed with
the successes of the day before approached and attacked our Lines,
where I had the honor to command. The action or rather skirmish
lasted about two hours : our people beat the Enemy off the Ground.
Col. Varnum & Col. Hitchcocks Reg 1 behaved exceedingly spirited
and all the officers that were with the Regiments. The Colonels
were both absent. Had all the Colonies good officers, there is no
danger of the Troops : never was Troops that would stand in the
Appendix. 67
Field longer than the American Soldiery. If the officers were as
good as the men and had only a few months to form the troops by
Discipline, America might bid Defiance to the whole World. Gen.
Putnam and the Adj* General were in the Action and behaved
nobly." End G. Green's Lett.
It is said in Gen 1 Mifflins Lett, of abot 23 Oct. that a Deserter
informs, a canon shot killed a Centinel and shattered Gen 1 Howes
Leg so that his Life is doubtful.
Extracts from Philad a Letters. Wm Ellery Esq " Phila Oct 5,
1776. Gen 1 Mifflin told me that our men behaved bravely in the
action (16 Sept) That we lost about one hundred killed and
wounded and beat the Enemy from the field of Battle & the
account he could rely on with about 400 killed and wounded."
Phil* 21 Sept. "The Enemy's Party consisted of Two Battalions
and three companies."
Phil a Oct. 11. " Some of our people did, indeed run from the
Enemy when they landed at Turtle Bay (Sept 15) — the very next
day some of those very men fought gallantly. I have this from
Gen. Mifflin & David Hopkins, who saw the Fight ; and they both
agree in saying that the last (or best) account they could get &
fr the appear" of the field of Battle the Enemy lost killed & wounded
in that fight between 4 & five hundred men : and we had K. & W.
the former says about 100, the latter says — not so many. Our
troops drove them off the Field when the numbers on both sides were
equal. — at present a defensive war seems to be the most prudent."
Sept. 24 1776. This morning ar Report here at Dighton of a bat-
tle at N. York last Wednesday. It came thus — One Clark of
Swanzy returned there yesterday 23 Sept p.m. from Gov. Trumbll
(to whom he had been sent on business about some Connecticut
Fire Arms.) He says Gov. Trumbull read him his Sons Letter from
N. York giving an acco* of an Action — that the Kings Troops
chiefly Hessians marched out of the City and attacked us about
half way between the City and Kings bridge ; that we fought and
repulsed them ; a 2 d Battle since Evacu 11 of N. York.
Sept 27, 1776. Last Evening a Post came into Taunton a letter
from L* Ephraim Crossman to his father — dated N. York almost to
Kings bri'ge Sept 17 (N. B. tuesday) 1776 — * * * * "They
attacked us next day (I suppose mondy 16 Sept) & I turned out
volunteer & followed them and we won the ground drove them till
they brought their ships to bear on us, and the grape shot flew thick
68
Appendix.
eno' for once But very few in our Company or Brigade has got a rag
but what they have on" (Having thrown away everything in the
Rout of the day before).
Oct. 18, 1776. When I was at Fairfield I saw Sloss Hobart Esq
a sensible Gent. & a member of the New York Convention. He
gave me the following draught of the Action of O 16 Sept which
began near the 14 m Stone & ended at the 8 m Stone.
i
/>? \\Q/oM.
? i
9
J
y
X
EXPLANATION.
A. The North Side of a Hollow way where the Action began.
B. Fence, behind which the Enemy rallied the first time.
C. Fence, from whence our People attacked the Enemy at B. 150 yards apart.
D. No Field pieces, but Virginia Detachmt enfiladed the Enemy.
E. Buckwheat field, where the Enemy rallied a Second time & an action ensued
for i£ hour when the Enemy fled and attempting to rally in an orchard at.
F. Were so closely pursued, that they stood but a few minutes when the Rout
became general.
Appendix. 69
We have two General Clinton's in our Army. From one of them
who was in the Action Mr. Hobart received the account. Gen.
Putnam & Gen. Greene commanded in the Action with about 15 to
eighteen hundred men, the Enemy having in the Action from 30 to
4500, Gen. Clinton & Gen. Mifflin were present in the Action as spec-
tators. Gen. Clinton said he was ordered next day to bury the dead
left on the field and buried 78 of the Enemy, the most of which fell
in the Buckwheat Field. He judged we lost 120 killed & wounded
— the Enemy 400 killed besides wounded : but phaps more probably
less. Mr Hobart saw one who escaped from Harlem who told him
that he counted 190 wounded of the Enemy in one barn & no in
another, so 300 wounded & this not all. On the whole we fought
well in this action.
Oct. 9. 1776. Major Lamb of N. Y. is just returned from his
Captivity * * * He also told me that an officer came on board
on Lds'dy Evening (15 Sept) damming the Yankees for runaway
cowards & storming that there was no chance to fight & get honor &
rise — he was in the Monday Action also & came again on board O
Evening cursing & damming the War, saying he had found the
Americans would fight & that it would be impossible to conquer them.
WM. ELLERY TO NICHOLAS COOKE, GOVERNOR OF RHODE ISLAND.
Philadelphia Oct r 11 th 1776.
I saw General Mifflin lately, and he informed that in the fight
the day after the enemy took possession of New York, by the best
accounts he could get, and from the appearance of the field of battle,
they lost between four and five hundred killed and wounded ; and
that we lost about one hundred killed and wounded. In the first
part of this account Jared Hopkins, son of the minister in Newport,
who saw the fight, agrees with the General, but says, that he saw our
killed and wounded, and that they were much short of that number.
They both, too, agree that some of our men who had behaved
shamefully the day before fought gallantly there, and that with equal
numbers we drove the enemy from the field. I believe they think
the Americans will fight notwithstanding we have retreated and
retreated.
General Washington, as I am told, played off a pretty manoeuvre
the other day. Determined to remove the grain and the furniture
70 Appendix.
of the houses from Harlem, he drew out into the field a party of
seventeen hundred. The enemy turned out as many. They
approached within three hundred yards and looked at each other.
While they were thus opposed front to front, our wagons carried oft
the grain and furniture. When this was accomplished, both parties
retired within their lines. It is said that our men preserved very
good faces. It would be of use to draw out our men in battle array
frequently, to let them look the enemy in the face, and have frequent
skirmishes with them.
[Force's American Archives.]
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM HARLEM, DATED OCT. 3.
" Yesterday morning eleven hundred men were ordered to parade
at daylight, to bring off the corn, hay &c which lay on Harlem plains
between the enemy and us. This property has lain for a fortnight
past unmolested, both sides looking at it, and laying claim to it until
to day, when it was brought off by us. A covering party were within
musket shot of the enemy, but they made no other movements than
to man their lines ; and three thousand of our man appearing, struck
their tents, expecting an attack. Our fatigue party finished the busi-
ness, and not a single shot was fired. These plains would afford an
excellent field for a fight. I really expected an action, but the
enemy declined it.
[Freeman's Journal or N. H. Gazette, Oct. 22, 1776.]
FROM GORDONS HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WAR.
Sept. 16, 1776. On the Monday there was a tolerable skirmish
between two battalions of light infantry and highlanders, and three
companies of Hessian riflemen commanded by Brigadier Leslie, and
detachments from the American army under the command of lieut.
col. Knolton of Connecticut and major Leitch of Virginia. The
colonel received a mortal wound, and the major three balls through
his body, but is likely to do well. Their parties behaved with
great bravery, and being supplied with fresh troops, beat the enemy
fairly from the field. The loss of the Americans, except in col.
Knolton, a most valuable and gallant officer, was inconsiderable ;
Appendix. 7 1
that of the enemy between 80 and 100 wounded, and 15 or 20 killed.
This little advantage inspirited the Americans prodigiously. They
found it required only resolution and good officers to make an enemy
they stood too much in dread of, give way.* The men will fight if
led on by good officers, and as certainly run away if commanded
by scoundrels. Sunday was an instance of the last, and the next
day a confirmation of the first assertion. On Sunday, the officers,
instead of heading and leading the men on to attack the enemy
when landing, where the first to scamper off.
FROM MARSHALL S LIFE OF WASHINGTON.
Sept. 15, 1776. Having taken possession of New York, Gen.
Howe stationed a few troops in the town ; and, with the main body
of his army, encamped on the island, near the American lines. His
right was at Horen's Hook on the East river, and his left reached
the North river near Bloomingdale ; so that his encampment extended
quite across the island, which is, in this place scarcely two miles
wide ; and both his flanks were covered by his ships.
The strongest point of the American lines was at Kingsbridge,
both sides of which had been carefully fortified. McGowan's Pass
and Morris's Heights were also occupied in considerable force, and
rendered capable of being defended against superior numbers. A
strong detachment was posted in an entrenched camp on the heights
Haerlem within about a mile and a half of the British lines.
The present position of the armies favoured the views of the
American General. He wished to habituate his soldiers, by a series
of successful skirmishes, to meet the enemy in the field ; and he per-
suaded himself that his detachments, knowing a strong intrenched
camp to be immediately in their rear, would engage without appre-
hension, would soon display their native courage, and would speedily
regain the confidence they had lost.
Opportunities to make the experiments he wished were soon
afforded. The day after the retreat from New York, the British
appeared {Sept. 16) in considerable force in the plains between the
two camps ; and the General immediately rode to his advanced posts,
in order to make in person such arrangements as this movement
* Gen. Washington's letter to Gen. Gates.
72 Appendix.
might require. Soon after his arrival, Lieut Col. Knowlton of Con-
necticut, who, at the head of a corps of rangers, had been skirmish-
ing with this party, came in, and stated their numbers on conjecture
at about 300 men, the main body being concealed in a wood.
The General ordered Col Knowlton with his rangers, and Major
Leitch with three companies of the third Virginia regiment, which
had joined the army only the preceding day, to gain their rear, while
he amused them with the appearance of making dispositions to attack
their front.
This' plan succeeded. The British ran eagerly down a hill, in
order to possess themselves of some fences and bushes, which pre-
sented an advantageous position against the party expected in front ;
and a firing commenced — but at too great a distance to do any exe-
cution. In the meantime Colonel Knowlton, not being precisely
acquainted with their new position, made his attack rather on their
flank than rear, and a warm action ensued.
In a short time, Major Leitch, who had led the detachment with
great intrepiditity, was brought off the ground mortally wounded,
having received three balls through his body ; and soon after the gal-
lant Colonel Knowlton also fell. Not discouraged by the loss of their
field officers, the captains maintained their ground, and continued
the action with great animation. The British were reinforced ; and
General Washington ordered some detachments from the adjacent
regiments of New England and Maryland, to the support of the Ameri-
cans. Thus reinforced, they made a gallant charge, drove the enemy
out of the wood into the plain, and were pressing him still farther,
when the General content with the present advantage, called back
his troops to their intrenchments.*
In this sharp conflict, the loss of the Americans, in killed and
wounded, did not exceed fifty men. The British lost more than
double that number. But the real importance of the affair was
derived from its operation on the spirits of the whole army. It was
the first success they had obtained during this campaign ; and its
influence was very discernible. To give it the more effect, the parole
next day was Leitch ; and the General in his orders publicly thanked
the troops under the command of that officer, who had first advanced
on the enemy, and the others who had so resolutely supported them.
* The author received the account of this skirmish from the Colonel of the third
Virginia regiment, and from the Captains commanding the companies that were
engaged.
Appendix. 73
He contrasted their conduct with that which had been exhibited the
day before ; and the result, he said evidenced what might be done
where officers and soldiers would exert themselves. Once more,
therefore, he called upon them so to act, as not to disgrace the noble
cause in which they were engaged. He appointed a successor to
"the gallant and brave Colonel Knowlton who would," he said,
u have been an honour to any country, and who had fallen gloriously,
fighting at his post."
FROM GEN. HEATH S MEMIORS.
Sept. 15*. About noon, the British landed at Kepps's Bay. They
met with but small resistance, and pushed towards the city, of which
they took possession in the afternoon. They availed themselves of
some cannon and stores ; but their booty was not very great. Here
the Americans, we are sorry to say, did not behave well ; and here it
was, as fame hath said, that Gen. Washington threw his hat on the
ground, and exclaimed, " Are these the men with which I am to
defend America?" But several things may have weight here; —
the wounds received on Long-Island were yet bleeding; and the
officers, if not the men, knew that the city was not to be defended.
Maj. Chapman was killed, and Brig. Maj. Wyllis was taken prisoner.
A few others were killed, wounded, and taken prisoners. The
Americans retreated up the island ; and some few, who could not
get out of the city that way, escaped in boats over to Paulus Hook,
across the river. The house, in the fort at Horn's Hook, was set
on fire by a shell, and burnt down. The fort was afterwards aban-
doned.
Sept. 16 th . A little before noon, a smart skirmish happened on
the heights west of Haerlem Plain, and south of Morris's house,
between a party of Hessian Yagers, British Light-Infantry and High-
landers, and the American riflemen and some other troops, which
ended in favour of the latter. The troops fought well, on both sides,
and gave great proof of their markmanship. The Americans had
several officers killed and wounded ; among the former, Lieut. Col.
Knoulton, of the Connecticut line, and Capt. Gleason, of Nixon's
Massachusetts regiment, two excellent officers ; and Maj. Leech, of
one of the southern regiments, a brave officer, was among the latter.
This skirmish might have brought on a general action ; for both
74 Appendix.
armies were then within supporting distance of the troops which were
engaged.
FROM DR. THACHERS MILITARY JOURNAL.
Sept. 20, 1776. We have the information, that before our army
evacuated the city of New York, General Howe's army landed, under
cover of five ships of war, the British und Hessians in two separate
divisions. So soon as this was announced to our Commander in
Chief, by a heavy cannonade from the men of war, he instantly rode
toward our lines, but he was astonished and mortified to find that the
troops which had been posted there, and also two brigades which
had been ordered to support them, were retreating in great confusion
and disorder. He made every effort to rally them, but without suc-
cess ; they were so panic struck that even the shadow of an enemy
seemed to increase their precipitate flight. His Excellency, dis-
tressed and enraged, drew his sword and snapped his pistols to check
them ; but they continued their flight without firing a gun ; and the
General, regardless of his own safety, was in so much hazard, that
one of his attendants seized the reins, and gave his horse a different
direction.
The following fact is of considerable interest. When retreating
from New York, Major General Putnam, at the head of three thous-
and five hundred continental troops, was in the rear, and the last
that left the city. In order to avoid any of the enemy that might be
advancing in the direct road to the city, he made choice of a road
parallel with and contiguous to the North River, till he could arrive
at a certain angle, whence another road would conduct him in such
a direction as that he might form a junction with our army. It so
happened that a body of about eight thousand British and Hessians
were at the same moment advancing on the road, which would
have brought them in immediate contact with General Putnam, before
he could have reached the turn into the other road. Most fortu-
nately, the British generals, seeing no prospect of engaging our
troops, halted their own, and repaired to the house of Mr. Robert
Murray, a quaker and friend of our cause ; Mrs. Murray treated them
with cake and wine, and they were induced to tarry two hours or
more, Governor Tryon frequently joking her about her American
friends. By this happy incident, General Putnam, by continuing his
march, escaped a recounter with a greatly superior force, which must
Appendix. 75
have proved fatal to his whole party. Ten minutes, it is said, would
have been sufficient for the enemy to have secured the road at the
turn, and entirely cut off General Putnam's retreat. It has since
become almost a common saying among our officers, that Mrs.
Murray saved this part of the American army.
FROM CAPT. GRAYDON's MEMIORS.
It was now November. I was on guard at a place distinguished
by the appellation of The point of roeks, which skirted the road lead-
ing to Kingsbridge. This was our most advanced picket towards
New York, and only separated from that of the enemy by a valley
a few hundred yards over. One stormy night I went for shelter to a
deserted house on the low ground directly across the road about
thirty or forty yards from our post — a deserter who was brought in
who informed us that the house was a very unsafe situation as the
British patroles passed very near it, and might very easily sweep
us off.
SIR WILLIAM HOWE TO LORD GERMAIN.
Head Quarters, York Island, Sept. 21, 1776.
Mv Lord — I have the satisfaction to inform your Lordship of his
Majesty's troops being in possession of the city of New York.
Upon the rebels abandoning their lines at Brooklyn, the King's
army moved from Bedford, leaving Lieut. Gen. Heister encamped
upon the heights of Brooklyn with two brigades of Hessians, and
one brigade of British at Bedford, and took five positions in the
neighbourhood of Newtown, Bushwick, Hell Gate, and Flushing.
The two islands of Montresor and Buchannan were occupied, and
batteries raised against the enemy's work at Home's Hook, com-
manding the passage at Hell Gate.
On the 15th inst. in the morning three ships of war passed up the
North River as far as Bloomingdale, to draw the enemy's attention
to that side ; and the first division of troops consisting of the light
infantry, the British reserve, the Hessian grenadiers and chasseurs,
under the command of Lieut. Cren. Clinton, having with him Lieut.
Gen. Earl Cornwallis, Major Gen. Vaughan, Brig. Gen. Leslie, and
Colonel Donop, embarked at the head of New Town Creek, and
y6 Appendix.
landed about noon upon New York Island, three miles from the town,
at a place called Kepp's Bay, under the fire of two forty gun ships
and three frigates, viz. Phoenix, Roebuck, Orpheus, Carysfort, and
Rose, Commodore Hotham having the direction of the ships and
boats.
The rebels had troops in their works round Kepp's Bay ; but their
attention being engaged in expectation of the King's troops landing
at Stuyvesant's Cove, Horen's Hook, and at Harlem, which they had
reason fo conclude, Kepp's Bay became only a secondary object of
their care. The fire of the shipping being so well directed and so
incessant, the enemy could not remain in their works, and the descent
was made without the least opposition. The conduct of the officers
of the navy do them much honor ; and the behaviour of the seamen
belonging to the ships of war and transports employed to row the
boats, was highly meritorious. Much praise in particular is due to
the masters and men of six transports, that passed the town on the
evening of the 14th under a heavy fire, being volunteers, to take
troops on board for the more speedy disembarkation of the second
division.
The British immediately took post upon the commanding height
of Inclenberg, and the Hessians moving towards New York, fell
in with a body of the rebels that were retiring from Stuyvesant's
Cove, some firing ensued, by which a Brigadier General, other offi-
cers, and several men of the rebels were killed and wounded, with
the loss of four men killed, and eight wounded on the part of the
Hessians. As soon as the second embarkation was landed, the troops
advanced towards a corps of the enemy upon a rising ground three
miles from IncleVo^rg, towards Kings-bridge, having McGowan's
pass in their rear, upon which they immediately retired to the main
body of their army upon Morris's Height. The enemy having evac-
uated New York soon after the army landed, a brigade took posses-
sion of the works in the evening. The prisoners made in the course
of this day were about 20 officers and 300 men.
The position the King's army took, on the 15th in the evening,
was with the right to Horen's Hook, and the left at the North River
near to Bloomingdale ; the rebel army occupying the ground with
extensive works on both sides of King's bridge, and a redoubt with
cannon upon a height on the west side of the North River opposite
to the Blue Bell, where the enemy have their principal work ; in
which positions both armies still continue.
Appendix. 77
On the 1 6th in the morning a large party of the enemy having
passed under cover of the woods near to the advanced posts of the
army by way of Vanderwater's Height, the 2 d and 3 d battalions of
light infantry, supported by the 42 nd regiment pushed forward, and drove
them back to their entrenchments, from whence the enemy observ-
ing they were not in force, attacked them with near 3000 men, which
occasioned the march of the reserve with two field pieces, a bat-
talion of Hessian grenadiers and a company of chasseurs, to prevent
the corps engaged from being surrounded ; but the light infantry and
42 nd regiment with the assistance of the chasseurs and field pieces
repulsed the enemy with considerable loss, aud obliged them to retire
within their works. The enemy's loss is not ascertained ; but from
the accounts of deserters it is agreed, that they had not less than 300
killed and wounded, and among them a colonel and a major killed.
We had eight officers wounded most of them very slightly ; fourteen
men killed and about 70 wounded.
Maj. Gen. Vaughan was slightly wounded in the thigh on the 15 th
by a random shot, as he was ascending the heights of Jnclenberg
with the grenadiers ; and I have the pleasure of informing your Lord-
ship that Lieut. Col. Monckton is so well recovered, he has been
walking about some days.
[Upcott Collection, IV., 410, N. Y. Historical Society.]
EXTRACT FROM MS. ORDER-BOOK OF BRITISH FOOT GUARDS.
Sept. 17, 1776. The Commander in Chief entertains the highest
opinion of the bravery of the few troops that yesterday beat back a
very superior body of the Rebels, and desires to return thanks to
the Battalion and the officers and men of the Artillery that came
to their support and disproves the conduct of the light company in
pursuing the Rebels without proper discretion without support —
expresses satisfaction at the behaviour of Gen. Clinton's troops who
took possession of this Island on the 15th inst.
FROM STEWART'S SKETCHES OF THE HIGHLANDERS.
After the escape of the enemy, active operations were resumed on
the 15th of September; and the reserve, which the Royal High-
78 Appendix.
landers had rejoined after the action at Brooklyn, crossed over the
island to New York, three miles above the town, and, after some
opposition, took post on the heights. The landing being completed,
the Highlanders and Hessians, who were ordered to advance to
Bloomingdale, to intercept the enemy, now retreating from New
York, fell in with and captured a corps of New England men and
Virginians. That night the regiment lay on their arms, occasionally
skirmishing with the enemy On the 16 th the light infantry were
sent out-to dislodge a party of the enemy, which had taken posses-
sion of a wood facing the left of the British. The action becoming
warm towards the evening, and the enemy pushing on reinforce-
ments, the Highlanders were sent to support the light infantry,
when the Americans were quickly driven back to their entrench-
ments. Perceiving that our force was small, they returned to the
attack with 3000 men ; but these were likewise repulsed, with con-
siderable loss. In this affair our loss was 14 killed, and 5 officers
and 70 men wounded.
FROM HISTORICAL RECORD OF THE FORTY-SECOND, OR, THE ROYAL
HIGHLAND REGIMENT OF FOOT.
Having completed the capture of Long Island, the army crossed
the river in the middle of September ; the Royal Highlanders being
with the leading division, landed above New York, and made a move-
ment towards Bloomingdale, to intercept the retreating Americans,
when a corps of Virginians and New England men were captured.
The Highlanders passed the night under arms, occasionally skirmish-
ing with the enemy ; and the commanding officer Major William Mur-
ray, narrowly escaped being made prisoner. He was passing from
the light infantry battalion, to the regiment, and was beset by an
American officer and two soldiers, whom he kept at bay some time,
but they eventually closed upon him and threw him down ; he was a
stout man of great strength of arm, and he wrenched the sword out
of the American officer's hand, and made so good use of it that his
antagonists fled, before several men of the regiment, who heard the
noise could come to his assistance.
On the following day the regiment was ordered to support the light
infantry engaged in a wood, and took part in driving a numerous body
of Americans to their intrenchments. The enemy renewed the con-
flict with augmented numbers, and sustained another repulse with
Appendix. 79
a severe loss in killed and wounded. This being only an affair of
out-posts, no detailed account of it was given ; but it was a well-
contested action. The Forty-second had one Serjeant and three
rank and file killed ; Captains Duncan McPherson and John Mc-
intosh, Ensign Alexander McKenzie (who died of his wounds), three
Serjeants, one piper, two drummers, 47 rank and file wounded.
LIEUT. GEORGE HARRIS OF THE FIFTH REGIMENT OF FOOT TO HIS
UNCLE. j
After landing in York Island, we drove the Americans into their
works beyond the eighth mile-stone from New York, and thus got
possession of the best half of the island. We took post opposite to
them, placed our picquets, borrowed a sheep, killed, cooked, and ate
some of it, and then went up to sleep on a gate, which we took the
liberty of throwing off its hinges, covering our feet with an American
tent, for which we should have cut poles and pitched, had it not
been so dark. Give me such living as we enjoy at present, such a
hut and such company, and I would not care three farthings if we
stayed all the winter, for though the mornings and evenings are
cold, yet the sun is so hot as to oblige me to put up a blanket as
a screen. Tell my best of mothers that my compass has been of the
greatest use in enabling me to ascertain the proper aspects for our
houses, and has gained me, in fine, the thanks of all parties.
The 1 6th of September we were ordered to stand to our arms at
eleven a.m. and were instantly trotted about three miles (without a
halt to draw breath), to support a battalion of light infantry, which
had imprudently advanced so far without support as to be in great
danger of being cut off. This must have happened, but for our
haste. So dangerous a quality is courage without prudence for its
guide ; with it, how noble and respectable it makes the man. But to
return to our narrative. The instant the front of our columns
appeared, the enemy began to retire to their works, and our light
infantry to the camp. On our return we were exposed to the fire of
the Americans. A man in my company had his hat shot through
nearly in the direction of my wound, but the ball merely raised the
skin ; and in the battalion on our left a man was shot so dead when
lying on the ground, that the next man did not perceive it, but when
he got up to stand to his arms, kicked his comrade, thinking he was
80 Appendix.
asleep, and then found, to his great surprise that he was quite dead,
a ball having entered under the ear, and very little blood having
issued from it.
Before we started in the morning, our dinner, consisting of a goose
and piece of mutton had been put on the fire. The moment we
marched, our domestic deposited the above named delicacies on a
chaise, and followed us with it to our ground. When the fight was
over, he again hung the goose to the fire, but the poor bird had been
scarcely half done, when we were ordered to return to our station.
There again we commenced cooking, and though without dish, plate,
or knife did ample justice to our fare, which we washed down with
bad rum and water, and then composed ourselves to rest on our
friendly gate. Our baggage joined us the next day.
[Lushington's Life of Lord Harris, p. 78.]
EXTRACT OF A LETTER FROM NEW YORK, DATED SEPT. 23, 1 776.
About four days since the light infantry, who are the van of our
army, pressed too gallantly upon a very superior body of the rebels,
and drove them off, but with the loss of 125 killed and wounded.
[Upcott Collection, IV., 391, N. Y. Historical Society.]
FROM STEDMAN S HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WAR.
On the morning of the 16th September, a detachment was sent
out from the main body of the Americans to a wood facing the left
flank of the English army. Three companies of our light infantry
were dispatched to dislodge them. The enemy, with a seeming
intention of retreating to the main body, retired into the interior
parts of the wood, where they were reinforced by another detach-
ment \ which made it necessary that the remainder of the light in-
fantry, with the 42nd regiment should be sent to support the companies
that were engaged. The action was carried on by reinforcements
on both sides, and became very warm. The enemy, however, pos-
sessed a great advantage from the circumstance of engaging within
half a mile of their intrenched camp, whence they could be supplied
with fresh troops as often as occasion required. Victory, neverthe-
Appendix. 8 1
less, was on the part of the loyalists ; and the Americans retreated
with the loss of three hundred killed and wounded.
Note. — Manuscript note by Sir Henry Clinton in his Copy of Stedman, now
in the Library of John Carter Brown of Providence, R. I. : " The ungovernable
impetuosity of the light troops drew us into this Scrape. C."
FROM BRIGADE LIST OF BRITISH ARMY AS ARRANGED AT STATEN
ISLAND, JULY, 1 7 76. *
Four Battalions of Light Infantry, commanded by Brig. Gen.
Alexander Leslie. i st Battalion Major Thomas Musgrave. 2 d Bat-
talion Major Turner Straubenzee. 3 d Battalion Major Hon. John
Maitland. 4 th Battalion Major John Johnson.
Corps de Reserve, commanded by Lieut. Gen. Earl Cornwallis,
having under him Major Gen. Vaughan. 33 d Regiment Lieut. Col.
James Webster. 42 d Royal Highlanders Lieut. Col. Thomas Stir-
ling. i st Battalion of Grenadiers Lieut. Col. Hon. Henry Monck-
ton. 2 d Battalion Lieut. Col. William Medows. 3 d Battalion Major
James Marsh. 4th Battalion Major Charles Stuart.
Corps of Artillery, commanded by Brig.-Gen. Cleavland.
[Beatson's Military Memoirs of Great Britain, VI., 49.]
HESSIAN ACCOUNT OF THE ACTION.
On the 16th of September quite a brisk tight took place on York
Island. The Americans on the morning of this day sent from their
camp a strong detachment which came out of the wood and attacked
our left wing. The second and third regiments of Light Infantry
supported by the 42 d Regiment (Highlanders) moved out and
drove the enemy back into their entrenchments. The latter did this
intentionally to entice the pursuers deeper into the wood where a
stronger division was already concealed for their support, computed
at three thousand men. Gen. Leslie, who was in command of the
British, soon encountered a severe resistance. Col. von Donop as
well as the British Regiments next in line to him received orders to
move up to their support ; the former moved up with his Yagers and
the Grenadier battalion of Linsingen, while he sent off the two other
82 Appendix.
grenadier battalions of von Block and von Minnigerode to occupy
the defile on the road to King's Bridge.
The Yagers who swarmed forward soon came into a hot contest
on Hoyland's Hill — when, however, the Linsingen battalion moved
up to their support the Americans retired. The Yagers had eight
wounded, among them Lt. Heinrichs. The Yagers and the bat-
talions of Grenadiers bivouacked in the wood not far from Bloom-
ingdale, and when the next morning the two other grenadier battalions
came up Donop with his brigade encamped here. The Hessians
here helped the British out of the mire. Donop, usually so modest,
says in his report to General von Heister :
" But for my Yagers, two Regiments of Highlanders and the
British infantry would have all, perhaps, been captured, for they were
attacked by a force four times their number ; and Gen. Leslie had
made a great blunder in sending these brave fellows so far in ad-
vance in the woods without support."
On this occasion Capt s Wredon and Lorey especially distinguished
themselves — the former went twenty paces in advance of the Yagers
in the firing line, and the latter shot down the leader of the hostile
battalion, upon which they turned their backs and fled.
The enemy lost about three hundred killed and wounded, among
whom were Colonel Knowlton and Major Leitch both of whom died
soon after of their wounds. Our loss amounted to 14 dead and 78
wounded — among the latter, 7 English officers.*
[Translated from Die deutschen Hulfstruppen im nordamerikanischen Befreiung-
skiiege, 1776 bis 1783. Von Max von Elking, corresponding member N. Y. His-
torical Society.]
FROM REPORT OF MAJOR C. L. BAURMEISTER.
In detached Camp near Hell Gate, 24 Sept. 1776.
On the 16th (Sept) the enemy encamped before Fort Washington
in pretty good order ; the left wing extending to Harlem. From
Fort Washington an entrenchment to King's Bridge, by which they
secured a further retreat under the protection of the said fort. The
English Light Infantry advanced too quickly on the retreat of the
enemy and at Bruckland Hill fell into an ambuscade of four thousand
* From the Journal of General von Heister and the Diary of Captain von
Walzburg.
AppC7idix. 83
men, and if the Grenadiers and especially the Hessian Yagers had
not arrived in time to help them no one of these brave Light In-
fantry would have escaped. They lost 70 dead and 200 wounded —
the enemy must have lost very severely, because no Yager had any
ammunition left, and all the Highlanders had fired their last shot.
A lieutenant of the Yagers, Heinrichs, was wounded in the left side
and also four Yagers. By the Parole of the 17 th Genl. Howe, notic-
ing his satisfaction on the happy landing, found it necessary to recom-
mend the corps under the command of General Leslie to be not
only brave but more prudent. The British at Bloomingdale en-
camped in two lines. Some of the enemy's baggage jmd waggons
with flour were taken.
[Translated from original MSS. in possession of Hon. George Bancroft.]
LIEUT. JOHN HEINRICHS TO A. L. SCHLOZER.
New York Island, in the district of Harlem, 5 English miles from the City
of New York, and 100 yards from Hornhogk on the East River, Sept. 18, 1776.
Last Sunday (Sept 15) we landed under the thundering rattle of
5 men-of-war, in flat boats from Long Island, on New York Island,
about 4 miles from New York city. As skirmishers we usually
formed the advance-guard, etc. Briefly ; in the afternoon this part
of the island was ours. But just as we were about going into quar-
ters, the rebels caused a new alarm, and we were obliged to turn out.
I had the right wing of the out-posts; we marched towards King's
Bridge, consequently I came close on the East River, which is lined
with the finest houses. I had the pleasure of taking possession of all
these houses, together with the hostile battery, where I found 5 can-
nons ; the rebels all fled. All the houses were crammed with furni-
ture, rural riches, and jewels ; the people however had all fled, and
left their slaves behind. But the next day one proprietor after another
came back and joyful tears of gratitude rolled down the faces of these
formerly happy people, when they found again their houses, fruits, cat-
tle, and all their furniture, and heard from one that I had merely taken
possession for them, and delivered their property back to their hands.
The next day the rebels 4000 men strong advanced against our
out-posts, and we sustained a severe fire, until towards the afternoon,
when they were driven away, as I afterwards heard ; for at one
o'clock I was compelled to withdraw, as I was shot by a rifle-ball in
84 Appendix.
the left side of the breast 4 fingers distant from the heart. To whom
could I more safely go, and who would receive me in a more friendly
manner than they who had but yesterday called me their benefactor,
their preserver ? As I do not like noise, now still less than ever ;
I selected for myself, although I could have chosen palaces, a small
house on the East River, to which the widow of a New York preacher,
Oglyby, had fled with a numerous family of children and step-children.
Not far distant was the house or rather the palace of her old father,
who had a storehouse full of porcelain, wine, and brandy, but had
lost nothing from it.
All these people came back last evening ; and the emotion I felt
on seeing mother and children, grandfather and grandchildren, &c.
down to the black children of the slaves, hugging and kissing each
other, so affected my wound, that I got a fever in the night. Not
to be thought of are the flatteries the good people showered on me
which I did not deserve, as I acted only according to orders.
[Translated from Schlozer's Briefwechsel meist historischen und politischen
Inhalts, Vol. II., Part vii., p. 99.]
PROCEEDINGS
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
IN COMMEMORATION
BATTLE OF HARLEM PLAINS
ON ITS
ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
September 16, 1876.
At a stated meeting of the New York Historical Society, held
in its Hail on Tuesday evening, June 6, 1876, the President, Fred-
eric de Peyster, in the chair —
The Executive Committee submitted the following communication :
The Executive Committee take leave to remind the Society of the approaching
Centennial Aniversary of the Battle of Harlem Plains, fought on the 16th of Sep-
tember, 1776. The action, though of minor importance, was one of the most
brilliant exploits of the Revolutionary War. In a close conflict, the most cele-
brated of the British regiments, after an unsuccessful effort to break the American
lines, were repulsed and driven in confusion by the Continental troops. This suc-
cess restored confidence to the patriot forces demoralized by the retreat from Long
Island and the subsequent landing of the British at Kip's Bay.
Such an incident in the annals of New York should not pass unnoticed in this
year of historic commemoration, and it is fitting that this Society should formally
celebrate the occasion in an appropriate manner.
A special Committee on Celebrations has recently been appointed by the Execu-
tive Committee, and authority is asked of the Society to carry out such programme
as may be by them proposed.
Mr. James W. Beekman, 2d Vice-President, after some remarks,
submitted the following resolution, which was adopted :
Resolved, That the communication of the Executive Committee be referred back
to the same Committee, with power.
Extract from the Minutes,
ANDREW WARNER,
Recording Secretary.
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
COMMEMORATION
of tup:
BATTLE OF HARLEM PLAINS
Saturday, September 16, 1876.
A special meeting of the New York Historical Society was this
day held, pursuant to its order, to celebrate the One Hundredth Anni-
versary of the action known as the Battle of Harlem Plains, fought
on Monday, September 16th, 1776. To this meeting, on the heights
of Bloomingdale, the crest of the hill overlooking Harlem Plains,
between 117th and 119th streets, and the Ninth and Tenth avenues,
the Governors of all States whose troops were engaged in the battle,
our State and City officials, representative regiments of the city mili-
tary, and numerous distinguished guests were invited.
The proceedings were under the charge of a Committee of One
Hundred of the members of the Society. The guests were received
at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, where a collation was provided, and were
escorted by the officers of the Society to the ground, where platforms,
gaily decorated with the Continental, Union, State, and City flags,
were arranged for their reception. The ground, covered with tents,
presented the appearance of an encampment, and from its elevated
position commanding extensive views of the North and East Rivers,
was visible from a great distance, presenting a scene of rare and
animated beauty.
The officers and their guests arrived upon the field at the appointed
hour, three o'clock in the afternoon, and were closely followed by the
Seventh Regiment, N. Y. S. Militia, who marched past to the position
assigned them, where they halted in military formation. In their
6
88 Commemoration of the
rear a large tent had been set up where a generous lunch was pro-
vided. At this moment there were not less than ten thousand people
present, including a large number of ladies, for whom ample accom-
modation in seats had been arranged, and the carriage enclosure was
also full of gay equipages.
The meeting was called to order by Frederic de Peyster, LL.D.,
the President of the Society, who introduced the Rev. Morgan Dix,
D.D., Rector of Trinity Church, who invited the Divine blessing.
Almighty God, Whose kingdom is everlasting, and Whose power is infinite :
Have mercy upon all Thy people, and so rule their hearts, that they may above all
things seek Thy honor and glory, and faithfully obey all in authority, according to
Thy word and ordinance, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Almighty God, Who hast in all ages showed forth Thy power and mercy in the
protection of every nation and people putting their sure trust in Thee : we yield
Thee our unfeigned thanks and praise for all Thy public mercies, and more especi-
ally for the signal and wonderful manifestations of Thy providence which we com-
memorate this year. Wherefore, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy
Name be ascribed all honor and glory from generation to generation.
Behold, O God our defender, and give peace in our time ; let the invincible
defence of Thy power be the bulwark of Thy faithful people ; give us rest evermore
from the storm of war, that we may continually serve Thee in all godly quietness
and rejoice in giving praise to Thee, Who livest and reignest, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, world without end.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, f I allowed be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom
come. Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily
bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespass against
us. And lead us not into temptation ; But deliver us from evil : For Thine is the
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
The President, Mr. de Peyster, then addressed the meeting, intro-
ducing the Hon. John Jay, the orator of the day.
In the name of the New York Historical Society, of which I have the honor to
be President, and in the exercise of my prerogative, I welcome you all this day to
this memorable spot upon which was fought the action, the hundredth anniversary
of which we are assembled to celebrate. Especially I welcome the distinguished
officials from neighboring States, as well as of our own City, who grace the occa-
sion with their presence, and the officers and men of the gallant Seventh Regiment,
who have so cordially and patriotically responded to our invitation, and now clothe
this peaceful scene with the bright panoply of war.
We are standing upon the very ground where the hottest of the Battle of Harlem
Plains was fought ; and from the crest of this hill we may see to the northward
the Point of Rocks, and to the southward McGowan's Pass, whence the rival
armies surveyed the field of contest, the struggle, the flight, and the victory.
It is neither my purpose nor within the range of my duty to touch even lightly
Battle of Harlem Pla ns. 89
upon this historic theme; the battle and its consequences will be related to you by
the distinguished gentleman whom the Society has selected as the orator of the
day, whose name you will recognize as one familiar in New York annals. But I
may call your attention to the fact, that this is the only day which we of New
York may properly celebrate in this year of Centennial rejoicing, if we except the
clay of our National Independence. But you and the orator of the day will par-
don me, if I submit one historic reflection, and at the same time answer a not
uncommon inquiry : Why does this great city, with its enormous population,
celebrate an action which was after all rather a skirmish of outposts than in any
true sense a battle ? Why dignify with military show, the raising of banners, and
the assemblage of this mass of patriotic citizens an action which would seem at
first sight worthy of hardly more than a village parade ?
In the scale of history events are not measured by ordinary standards.^ They are
great and memorable in proportion to their consequences. Montaigne, the pro-
found observer, of whom it has been well said that he not only depended on
the natural force of his own vast and penetrative powers, but that he made of
all that he committed his own, referring to the extraordinary combat in which
Leonidas with his immortal band defended the passes of his country, remarked that
the four famous victories of Greece, the fairest the sun ever shone on— Salamis,
Platea, Mycale, and Sicily, never opposed all their united glories to the single
glory of Thermopylae. Yet, this battle — if battle it may be called, the glory of
which still shines with undiminished lustre after the lapse of twenty three centuries,
— was but the struggle of three hundred men ; the death roll of three hundred men
and their gallant king, of whom our own Anthon (my dear personal friend),
profound classical scholar, has observed, with a knowledge of Grecian character all
his own, that " they no doubt considei"ed their persevering stand in the post en-
trusted to them not as an act of high and heroic devotion, but of simple and indis-
pensable duty." Looking upon the intelligent faces and martial forms of the gal-
lant regiment, to whom not only our City and our State, but the whole country
owes so heavy a debt of gratitude, I am forcibly reminded by this illustration of
the ennobling sentiment that duty to country is the one distinguishing trait, em-
bracing all other qualities in itself, of the true soldier.
At the entrance of the pass of Thermopylae a monument stood in antiquity,
bearing only the simple inscription : " Go, traveller, tell at Sparta that we died
here in obedience to the laws." I do not propose to establish a comparison be-
tween the action of Harlem Plains and the Spartan fight, save to claim for
the one as for the other the glory of its consequences far out of proportion to its
own immediate importance. The Persian hosts learned the lesson that Sparta
might be annihilated, but never conquered, and the proud veterans of England
and the continent, rudely awakened from their dream of easy conquest, on this
our battle-field first saw the magnitude of their undertaking, and in their
sharp repulse were made to know the temper and the character of the American
soldier. A century has passed since the prudent voice of Washington recalled
the troops, flushed with victory, from their eager pursuit of the flying foe. A
hundred years — the little city which the patriots defended has overrun the island
and climbed the very heights whereon they made their last stand, yet this spot,
this ridge of hill and yonder plains are all unchanged. The rocks behind which
90 Commemoration of the
the flying troops sought shelter are still here to-day, and the grass still grows
upon the rich plain below, while all around, northward and southward, east and
west, stately buildings show the development of our city, a noble testimony to
the wisdom of our fathers. The patriotic enthusiasm which beams upon me
from this audience assures me that here at least there is no want of reverence for
the past, or love for our country. Our country ! well may we exclaim with
Cicero: "O! jus eximium nostras civitatis ! " (Oh! matchless right of our
country !) All that we are and have is hers of right.
I am glad that the narration of the events of September 16, 1776, has fallen to
a son of New York — a gentleman who worthily upholds the honor of his ances-
tral name — a grandson of that pure, patriotic, and elevated man, the friend of
Washington, the first Chief-Justice of the United States, of whom Webster so
beautifully said that when the ermine of justice fell on his shoulders it touched
nothing less spotless than itself. I beg to introduce to you the Honorable John
Jay.
On the conclusion of the oration the Rev. Richard S. Storrs,
D.D., rising to move a resolution of thanks, made the following
remarks :
Mr. President : — I rise to offer a resolution, which, I am glad to know, has
already been anticipated in the judgment and the feeling of every one in this vast
and most respectable assemblage who has been able to hear the admirable address
to which we have been listening. We must all feel, I am sure, that it has been
good to stand together upon these heights, consecrated by the courage and the
devotion, and signalized by the success of a hundred years ago. If it be true, as
has been said, as has been repeated in the address to which we have listened, that
one could not stand at Iona without having his piety revived, or at Marathon with-
out feeling a fresh glow of patriotic impulse, we must all agree that it is still better
for us, American citizens, to stand where we are ; where no mere picture of distant
or ancient battle has been engaging our thoughts ; where a fierce struggle, fought
to a successful issue, became, as has been shown, a principal condition of our
present, permanent, and glorious American liberty. We must rejoice that the
defeat and the dismay, the massacre and the retreat of Brooklyn Heights gave
place to the success and the victory of Harlem Plains. It is every way ennobling to
stand upon these summits, where, through the enveloping murk and gloom, shone
forth the transfiguring light of the wisdom and the courage of Washington and his
comrades, and to be reminded of the precious blood by the shedding of which free-
dom and hope were purchased for us.
It is good to remember, too, as we have been told to-day, that not only the men
whom history celebrates contributed to the success which we commemorate ; that a
woman's hand turned the poised scales of destiny, and that to a woman's wit and
patriotic courage was due the rescue of Putnam and his division from the troops of
General Howe. We do not care to know henceforth the name " Incleberg ! "
Let it sleep in the historic page ! Let it linger only amid the records which eager
and patient eyes, like those of our orator, shall explore ! Let us rejoice that it
Battle of Harlem Plains. 91
has been swept from present American remembrance by the superseding name of
that noble woman which shall cling as now to " Murray Hill," and make it her
monument, while New York continues. Let us gratefully remember that to that
bright woman, and to the soldiers whose escape she secured, we owe the liberties
which we to-day enjoy and boast ! Let us not forget, as we go from these heights,
that the artisan pursues his peaceful industry, because the soldier fought here be-
fore him ; that this holiday assembly, these holiday flags, the commerce which seeks
yonder liquid highways, on the right hand and the left ; all the manifold industries
of the city and of the land ; these asylums, our churches and newspapers, our
schools and courts, yonder splendid mansions, that beauteous pleasure ground —
these all are now possible to us because the soldiers of a hundred years since stood
fast and died in our behalf! And, as we remember this indebtedness \j/> the past,
let us honor those who represent those soldiers in the present, with an equal readi-
ness to do and to die ; and let us determine for ourselves, that each of us, by life
and labor, will contribute in our peaceful individual ways, as far as it is given us
to do it, to the furtherance of the liberty for which they died, the memory of whose
sacrifice hallows this ground, to the maintenance of that Republican civilization to
whose early beginnings their names and work still give renown !
Mr. President: We have been instructed by the careful and various know-
ledge of our distinguished orator. We have been charmed by the vivid and pic-
turesque grace with which he has unrolled before us this memorable panorama of
battle. We have been quickened and inspired by his thoughtful and patriotic elo-
quence. We shall all, I am sure, rejoice together that the Committee of Arrange-
ments entrusted this office to one of whom it has already been well said that he
worthily bears an illustrious name — a name which is so great an inheritance that it
takes a good man and a strong man to bear it worthily ! And I know that I
simply utter the feeling of all present, when, in behalf of the Society, which has
done me the honor to count me among its honorary members, I offer the following
resolution :
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be and are hereby tendered to the
Honorable John Jay for his interesting and instructive address of this day, in
commemoration of the historic event which took place on this spot a hundred
years ago ; and that a copy be requested for publication.
The Hon. James W. Keekman seconded the resolution.
Mr. President : — In seconding the resolution which has just been so eloquently
offered by the Rev. Dr. Storrs, I propose to point out, as a peculiar reason for
its adoption, the justice done to New York by this celebration.
I venture to claim for Manhattan more honor for patriotic devotion and courage
than it has been usual to accord her. We are accustomed to hear the praises of
New England ; and Bunker Hill has eclipsed in fame, by reason of its priority of
occurrence, all the other considerable battles of the war of Independence. Yet
New York began resistance to British aggression in the street battle of Golden
Hill, at the corner of the present John and Pearl streets. The first blood of the
American Revolution was there shed, on the iSth of January, 1770 (as has been
92 Commemoration of the
pointed out by the historian Dawson), two months before the famous "massacre "
in King street, Boston, and five years and four months before the affair of Lexing-
ton. Liberty of conscience, which was the later boast of Rhode Island and
Maryland, always prevailed in New York from its foundation ; liberty of the
press was maintained in the acquittal of John Peter Zenger, in 1745. In October,
1764, New York appointed the first Committee of Correspondence, which was
also the first step towards resistance and union, six years before Massachusetts,
and nine years before Virgina imitated her example. When an attempt was made
to put the Stamp Act in force, in 1765, the merchants of New York organized the
non-importation agreement, and executed it faithfully. There was a tea-party
here as well as in Boston ; but what was done there by a small body of men by
night and under the disguise of Mohawks, was done here in broad daylight by the
citizens in mass-meeting and without concealment. And when hostilities had
commenced, New York overturned the King's authority in the city, and estab-
lished a governing Committee of One Hundred, April 24th, 1775, long before such
action was taken by any other colony or community in America. During that
critical night, on which Washington withdrew his army silently across the East
River, after the defeat on Brooklyn Heights, not a single spy was able to carry
tidings of what was going on to the British on Long Island. The secret was
kept by New York, and the patriot army was saved.
On the spot where we now stand the first repulse of the war was sustained by the
British arms. As we have just heard, the insulting bugle blast, the fox hunter's
"gone away," given by the bugles of the enemy from the upper slope of this hill,
as the dashing light infantry drove in our pickets, stung with shame the veteran
officers, some of whom had seen service in the French war of 1756. The Com-
mander-in-Chief seized the favorable moment to turn the retreat into success, and
by a well-concerted move, to raise the morale of our troops disheartened by the
precipitate flight of the preceding day. A rally of our men took place — of men
from every colony — and the result was the repulse of the British, which we com-
memorate now. The American arms had never before been successful : for Bunker
Hill was a defeat — so was the battle of Long Island. Here was their first
success.
Although the battle of Harlem Plains has been called only a skirmish, its im-
portance in a military sense was great. Had the British advance not been thus
checked, the army of Independence would have been enveloped by superior
numbers, Fort Washington and our incomplete defences captured, and our entire
army destroyed. The British plans were very simple. They desired to cut off the
New England from the other colonies, by seizing the passes of the Hudson, and to
occupy Albany by an invasion from Canada. The success of the British campaign
depended, therefore, upon the destruction of the army of Washington. By its
grim and slow withdrawal into the Jerseys, time was gained to fortify the High-
lands, and that severing of the colonies, which was aimed at, was finally made
impossible by the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga in the next year.
All this resulted from the cheering inspiration and hope which the joy of success
gave to our forces at the battle of Harlem Plains. Wet, sick, disheartened by
the retreat from Long Island, and by the rout at Kip's Bay, they learned here
that British regulars were not invincible.
Battle of Harlem Plains. 93
I advocate most heartily, therefore, the adoption of the resolution of thanks to
the orator, who has commemorated so worthily this eventful day.
The question was put by the President, and the resolution un-
animously adopted.
Mr. John Austin Stevens, on behalf of the Committee on the
Celebration, offered the following resolutions, which were unani-
mously adopted : —
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be and are hereby tendered to His
Excellency the Governor of the State of Rhode Island, and His Honor the Mayor
of New York, for the signal honor they have done us this day by their presence
on the battle-field where the sons of the sister colonies stood shoulder to shoulder
with those of New York a century ago.
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be and are hereby tendered to the
Reverend Clergy for their cordial and grateful presence on this occasion.
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be and are hereby tendered to the
distinguished assemblage who have so cordially responded to its invitation, and are
gathered here to unite with it in its commemoration of a day eventful in New York
annals and glorious in the history of the struggle for Independence.
Resolved, That the thanks of the Society and of this meeting be and are hereby
tendered to the officers and gentlemen of the Seventh Regiment, New York State
Militia, for their generous and patriotic response to the invitation of the Society
to be present on this occasion, adding to its interest in a manner so conspicuous
and so appropriate.
Resolved, That the Society cheerfully acknowledge their obligations to the
owners of the ground upon which this celebration is held, Messrs. Drexel and
Olmstead, for its free use, and to Mr. Henry Tone, the present owner of the old
De Peyster House, for the obliging manner in which he has placed it at the dispo-
sition of the Committee of Arrangements.
Rev. William Adams, D.D., pronounced a benediction —
God save and bless our country ; enabling us, like our fathers, to "withstand
in the evil day, and having done all to stand. " The blessing of Almightly God,
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost be with you all, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Society then adjourned.
ANDREW WARNER,
Recording Secretary.
94 Commemoration of the
NEWSPAPER NOTICES OF THE CELEBRATION.
From the New York Times of Sunday, September 17, 1870.
" Another of the one hundred years old exploits of the Revolutionary War was
commemorated yesterday on the high grounds of Harlem, lying between One
Hundred and Tenth and One Hundred and Twenty-fifth streets and Ninth and
Tenth Avenues. The event was historic, and was celebrated upon historic ground.
The battle of Harlem Plains, as a battle, was on a comparatively small scale, but
its value was positive and emphatic. It brought no actual disaster to the British
arms — it resulted in a little more than a check to their pretensions — but it gave
new ardor and confidence to the American troops, and removed the depression
which since the battle of Long Island had brooded over the army. The story of
the conflict was told by the orator of the day, and, therefore, it needs no recapi-
tulation here. Suffice it to say that the trained veterans of Britain assailed the
American position, were driven back by the raw levies of Washington, and re-
treated from the field. But out of the slight conflict came a bolder bearing, an
intrepidity of purpose, to the revolutionary soldiers. They had fought and con-
quered, and might not the victory be multiplied? The day on which the battle
was fought was the birthday of an ardor and energy which culminated in the
loftiest triumph, and accordingly it was deemed worthy of commemoration. The
Historical Society took the matter in hand, and drew the bright record of the time
from the archives of the dead century. Success crowned their undertaking. The
demonstration was unique, simple, and patriotic. Some of the best names in the
country lent to it their prestige ; the people came to the celebration to the number
of nearly five thousand ; the military were represented by the Seventh Regiment ;
Rev. Drs. Storrs, Adams, and Dix were among the representatives of the clergy,
and in all respects the conflict of a century ago was loyally commemorated. That
a Marathon should fire the patriotism of one who stood upon the classic ground,
or an Iona make his piety burn with a brighter ray, was the text of the hour, and
it was well borne in mind by the assemblage. They stood, after all, on classic
ground themselves, and they needed no better reminder of their loyalty. Beneath
their eye lay ' a country well worth fighting for ' indeed. To the south was the
great emporium of the country's commerce and industry ; its freighted argosies
went by within their view on the waters of the East River and Long Island Sound ;
the ground sloped away to the distant High Bridge on the north, and a little to
Battle of Harlem Plains. 95
the left they caught a glimpse of the noble Hudson and the Palisades through two
dark-green clumps of woodland. All around was something to suggest historic
memories. The yellow gable of the old De Peyster House, near which the battle
of one hundred years ago was fought, was hard by, and on the broken ground in
the valley stood the stone fence behind which the British had made their most
desperate stand. It was the spot where the battle was most hotly waged.
" The ceremonial of the day took place on the slope of the hill overlooking the
Harlem Plains. A handsome stand had been erected for the members of the Soci-
ety and their invited guests, and close by was another stand for the Band of the
Seventh Regiment. Both were handsomely draped with red cloth, and above
them waved the American ensign. Flags displaying the city arms were also flung
to the winds. The slopes of the hill were clotted with tents, above all of which
waved the Stars and Stripes. The ground was partially enclosed, roe fence around
being draped in red, white, and blue, and having flags displayed at short intervals.
It had been decided to begin the ceremonies at 2.30 o'clock, but matters were not
quite in train at that time. It was nearly an hour later when the members of the
Historical Society and their guests arrived from the city in carriages, and about
the same time the sounds of a military band were heard, and the Seventh Regi-
ment came marching up One Hundred and Tenth street, not far from the spot
where, a century before, the British troops had passed. The regiment looked
splendidly as it moved along. There was just a flash of sunlight needed to glint
back from their bayonets, for the day was dull and sombre, but for all that the
pageant was excellent. The regiment drew up on the northern slope of the hill,
and the bandsmen in their gay uniforms took their place on their stand. The
crowd was now compact and attentive. Ladies were present in large numbers,
and most of them were provided with seats. Police were in attendance from the
Twenty-second, Thirtieth, Thirty-first, Thirty-second, and Thirty-fifth Precincts,
under command of Inspector Speight, but where there was so much disposition
toward order there was but small need for their service. On the outer edge of
the inclosure space was provided for a band of boys and girls from a neighboring
institution, each one of whom carried a miniature American flag. Various trifles
indicating the patriotism of the people were to be seen. Among others was a medal
commemorative of the occasion, which was largely circulated. It bore on one
side the inscription, ' The Centennial year of our national independence.' Be-
neath this was a portrait of Washington and the date ' 1876.' On the revers
side was inscribed, ' Battle of Harlem Plains, September, 1776.' Among those
taking part in the ceremonies of the day or approving of it by their presence were :
Gov. Henry Lippitt, of Rhode Island, and staff, including Col. Charles Warren
Lippitt, Chief of Personal Staff; Col. Edward Eames; Col. Theodore M. Cook ;
Gen. Heber Le favour, Adjutant-General of the State of Rhode Island; Col. J.
C. Knight, Paymaster-General; Hon. John Jay; Frederic De Peyster, President
of the Historical Society ; James W. Beekman, Vice-President ; Rev. Dr. Rich-
ard S. Storrs, of Brooklyn ; Rev. Dr. Adams, Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, E. F. De-
lancey, John Austin Stevens, C. H. Ward, Mayor Wickham, ex-Commissioner
Van Nort, George H. Moore, Fordham Morris, Col. Warner, Charles O'Conor,
Judge Larremore, Gen. Kilburne Knox, Major Gardner, United States Army ;
George W. McLean, Major of the Old Guard ; County Auditor Earle, Col.
g6 Commemoration of the
Clarke and Lieut. Col. Fitzgerald, of the Seventh Regiment, and Hosea B. Per-
kins. The orator of the day was Hon. John Tay, who in eloquent terms told the
story of the American triumph on Harlem Plains, and inculcated the virtue of
patriotism ; while a few words, magnetic, however, in their effect, were addressed
to the assemblage by Rev. Dr. Storrs, of Brooklyn.
From the Evening Telegram of Septe?nber 16, 1876.
"This afternoon the one hundredth anniversary of the battle of Harlem
Plains was celebrated on the very ground where the action took place. On
Thursday afternoon the Telegram gave a resume - of the leading features in that
brilliant engagement, and therefore no necessity exists for our now referring to
them save in a general way. The locality where the battle was fought lies be-
tween 110th and 125th streets, and between Ninth and Tenth avenues, and is one
of the very few places which is both near the heart of New York City and cele-
brated in the history of the American Revolution. For the celebration of this
event the day did not dawn as auspiciously as could have been desired. The
sunshine ; lternated too frequently with shadow, and a rainstorm seemed imminent.
The arrangements, however, were made with sense and taste, and carried out in a
spirit of good discipline. The plateau upon which the exercises were held is
nearly five hundred feet long, and lies between Riverside Park and Harlem Lane.
Here a platform and music stand were erected, and tents were pitched for the
accommodation of guests. The whole place was alive with flags and gay with
bunting. An immense concourse of people were present. These came in car-
riages, on foot, by the Second, Third, and Eighth avenue cars, and by the
Elevated and the Harlem railroads. At the intersection of 118th street and
Tenth avenue a carriage-way and a station for teams. Opposite this carriage-way
the Seventh Regiment took its stand. The platform was occupied by the mem-
bers of the New York Historical Society (among whom are to be found some of
the most cultured gentlemen of New York), Mayor Wickham, various city
authorities, and a number of invited guests, and the orator of the day, the Hon.
John Jay. This gentleman is the grandson of John Jay, the first Chief- Justice of
the United States. He is now in the prime of his physical and mental powers,
and by descent, by wise scholarship, by reverence for historical traditions, and by
a rare gift of eloquence, he is peculiarly fitted for the grateful task which devolved
upon him. These qualifications were recognized by the vast assembly, for when
Mr. Jay came forward he was received with loud and long reverberating
applause. After a brief but felicitous preface, he defined the real importance of
the battle or skirmish known as that of Harlem Plains. He touched upon the
defeat which the Americans had experienced in Brooklyn on August 27th, on the
subsequent evacuation of New York, and on the final landing of Howe near Kip's
Bay, three miles from the city. He gave a magnificent view of the gallant con-
duct of Washington, who, reduced to desperation by what he thought the coward-
ly conduct of his troops, perilled his life by rushing madly into action. Pie de-
scribed how, on September 16, 1776, exactly a hundred years ago, the advanced
guard of the American line had been driven in by a superior English force.
Battle of Harlem Plains. 97
Washington determined to attack in front, as a feint to draw the enemy down,
while Col. Knowlton, gaining the high rocks on the Hudson River side, would
attack in the rear. Finally, the orator, in a burst of impassioned rhetoric,
related how the English were driven from their successive positions, and took
shelter behind a fence about two hundred yards distant, where they were rein-
forced by a body of Hessians. Mr. Jay drew several brilliant and thrilling
pictures complimentary to the patriotic fidelity of the American forces. While
doing this, however, he carefully avoided bombast and spread-eagleism. His
speech was a fitting embodiment of the centennial spirit, devoid of everything
like turgidity and ranting. The whole affair was one of the most thrilling and
picturesque of the many commemorations this season has drawn forth. The
music, the speech, the applause, the flowers, the green sward, the rjpe foliage, the
waving handkerchiefs, the equipages, the superb toilets, the gay military trap-
pings, and the beautiful national flags waving over all, made up a scene not soon
to be forgotten."
From the New York Herald of September 17, 1876.
"Yesterday, at one o'clock, there was a meeting of the Committee of Recep-
tion of the Historical Society of the State of New York, at the Fifth Avenue
Hotel. The guests received were Governor Henry Lippitt, of Rhode Island ;
Colonel Charles Warren Lippitt, chief of the personal staff; Colonel Edward
Eames, Colonel Theodore M. Cook, General Heber Lefavour, Adjutant-General
of the State, and Colonel Jabers C. Knight, Paymaster-General. The reunion,
it is hardly necessary to state, was for the purpose of arranging the proceedings to
take place later in the day, on the site of the battle of Harlem Plains, on which
historic spot Hon. John Jay was to deliver an oration.
"On arriving at the place of celebration, a scene of unrivalled beauty was
unfolded. Upon a large plateau upon the edge of a bluff extending from 115th to
125th street, were erected two large covered platforms, festooned in an elaborate
manner with American flags ; tents were pitched upon the ground, from which
floated the national colors ; the fences and trees were likewise decorated, and
from every point — not excepting the Bloomingdale Lunatic Asylum — there seemed
to be a spontaneous display of red, white, and blue. In front stretched the low-
lands, now teeming rich with the autumnal vegetation ; to the left, the low brick
houses of Harlem, seeming almost a phototype of that ancient city in Holland
from which it takes its name. Far in the distance the sparkling waters of Long
Island Sound laved the dim shores ; and, city- ward, the spires of the churches
pierced the dull September sky like lances. The only glittering object, however,
shining through the ether was the great Cathedral in distant Fifth avenue, whose
marble fretwork seemed to be mirrored against the heavens and reflect its glory
on the landscape. In gazing westward the winding Hudson was seen washing the
feet of the Palisades, and, way beyond, steamers were plying from shore to shore
as peacefully as if never battles had been lost or won.
"About three o'clock the Historical Society arrived upon the ground and took
possession of the main stand. They were accompanied by the following gentle-
men : Governor Lippitt and staff, Mayor W. H. Wickham, Charles O'Conor,
98 Commemoration of the Battle of Harlem Plains.
Judge Larremore, ex-Mayor Tiemann, Major Gardner, United States Army ;
Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix, General Kilbourne Knox, Senator Beekman, Colonel
Warner, Major George W. McLean, of the "Old Guard;" Rev. Dr. Richard
S. Storrs, Rev. Dr. Adams, ex-Commissioner Van Nort, County Auditor Earle,
James Russell Lowell, Benjamin H. Field, Hosea B. Perkins, Fordham Morris,
Henry A. Oakley, G. H. Moore, and F. de Peyster."
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